2013-05-20

Fierce Rivalry in Four Main Competitions

The 19^th Shanghai TV Festival will be held June 10 to 14, 2013. The Organizing Committee announced its planning and jury committee and all nominees for the Magnolia Award to the media on May 15, 2013.

Shanghai TV Festival, a comprehensive international TV Festival, includes award presentation, market trade, Pitch and Catch, and TV Forum. It is devoted to building a high-quality platform for TV discussion and exchange, trade and industry cooperation. This year’s TV Festival focuses on industry environment across all media platforms and strengthening the impetus its provides for the development of China\' TV industry. The festival aims to improve levels of innovation and expand its influence in an atmosphere of fairness and equality. It also strives to play a more significant role in cultural exchange, industry collaboration, spurring economic growth, and strengthening interaction with audiences. The four major parts of this year’s festival are: Awards Presentation, TV Market, Technology Market, and TV Forum.

Many special activities also will be held, including Red Carpet ceremony for the Magnolia Award, Awards and Closing Ceremonies, People’s Choice, Excellent TV Show Broadcasting, University Student TV Festival, etc.

The 19^th Shanghai TV Festival has a strong jury panel for the Magnolia Award. Shortlisted works competed fiercely in the four main competitions, namely TV Film/Miniseries, TV series, Documentary, and Animation. Famous director Zhang Li is the Jury President for Film TV/Miniseries and TV series. Senior U.S. TV producer Philippe Perebinossoff and famous Chinese scriptwriter Wang Liping are judges of the TV Film/Miniseries competition. Actress Chen Xiaoyi, actor Zheng Jiaying, director Kang Honglei and scriptwriter Wang Liping are judges of the TV series competition. Yves Jeanneau, Jury President of General Commissioner of Sunny Side of the Doc
, will be Jury President for the Documentary competition. Chinese documentary director and producer Chen Xiaoqing and Korean documentary producer Kim Min-Chul will be judges for the Documentary competition. Liao Xiangzhong, vice-president of Communication University of China (CUC, has been invited to be Jury President for the Animation competition; judges will include French director Guillaume Ivernel, who directed Chasseurs de dragons, and famous Singaporean animation director and producer Wong Kok Cheong.

Over 1000 works from more than 50 countries and regions have signed up for competition at this year’s festival. Forty-eight shortlisted works will compete for 23 Magnolia Awards. Ipartment Season 3, Beijing Youth, Feng He Ri Li, Chen Fu, Jin Tailang\'s Happy Life, A Unique Militiaman, Niang Yao Jia Ren, Wenzhou Yi Jia Ren, Xin Shu, Zhao and Shi Gu Er have been nominated for Best TV series. Five outstanding actors - Chen Baoguo, Huang Bo, Wang Lei, Wu Xiubo and Zhang Jiayi - have been nominated for Best Actor, a popular list of nominees which has attracted many people’s attention. Also five talented actresses - Jiang Wenli, Song Dandan, Hai Qing, Chen Shu, and Bai Baihe - will compete for Best Actress award.

In order to fully and better encapsulate the defining features of Shanghai TV Festival -- Professional & Progressive, Fairness & Equality -- some changes have been made to this year’s event. The Organizing Committee is cooperating with Deloitte, one of the Big Four international accounting companies, for recording and preliminary processing of voting. Also, about 50 individuals throughout China have been invited as part of the change to participate in the process. Among them are A-list directors and scriptwriters, such as Zheng Xiaolong and Li Shaohong, and many TV industry professionals and experts, including representatives of the academy, broadcast platforms and TV series producers. As a result of this change to a more scientific voting calculation, the final shortlist is hoped to be more credible. In addition, in order to pursue fairness and equality, no jury members, including directors, actors or scriptwriters will be involved in the preliminary processing.

Also, the TV Film category is being changed to TV Film/Miniseries to include popular miniseries in western countries. Eleven works from nine countries will compete in the new category this year; they cover various themes, including history, war, ethics, etc, and are innovative, well-made and appealing to audiences. For example, Young Doctor’s Notes is an excellent English production which stars Harry Potter film series actor Daniel Radcliffe, and the main character of Emmy award-winning series Mad Men is Jon Hamm,.

The quantity and quality of domestic cartoon products nominated in the Animation competition has significantly improved. More overseas cartoon products are competing in this year’s festival: popular animations Bluecat and Dian Dian Travel Around the World, Seer, and The Growban have all been nominated.

Documentaries from over 40 countries and regions have signed-up for competition; 15 nominated works are not only real, original, profound, and thought-provoking, but also share some common features. A change from the former “extreme” documentaries, this year’s Chinese nominees focus on Chinese youth. The nature documentaries display a higher level of art, mingling poetry, music, and dance. The themes of seven nominated long documentaries involve humanity, history, nature, archaeology, society, etc; eight nominated short documentaries are excellent examples of the use of advanced technology.

Apart from the Magnolia Award competition, over 80 TV Films/Miniseries, documentaries, and animations will be exhibited. Audiences will be able to enjoy a visual banquet on screens in early June on New Entertainment, Art and Humanities, Documentary, Foreign Languages, TV series, Cartoon, and Ha Ha Children channels.