The 28th STVF to Kick Off on June 19

The 28th Shanghai TV Festival (STVF) is poised to commence on June 19 with a dazzling opening ceremony. The event culminates in the esteemed Magnolia Awards Ceremony on the evening of June 23. For the first time, the Magnolia Awards competition will embrace all sections of online audio-visual content, reflecting the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the industry.

Incepted in 1986, STVF has risen to be the wind vane for the development of radio, television, and online audio-visual content in China. Its sterling market reputation and the rigorous, diversified selection principle for the Magnolia Awards have contributed to its resounding success. The global call for entries for this year's STVF spans two years and is divided into four distinct categories: TV drama (including Chinese and foreign TV dramas), documentaries, animations, and variety shows. By the submission deadline of March 31, 2023, STVF had garnered nearly 1,900 TV productions from 49 countries and regions in five continents across the world. European and American countries have consistently been ardent participants in the Magnolia Awards, particularly in the categories of foreign dramas, animations, and documentaries. This year, leading film and television institutions from powerhouse countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain have submitted their latest works to STVF to compete for the coveted Magnolia Awards. With a two-year accumulation of entries, the competition for the Magnolia Awards, affectionately dubbed by the industry and netizens as a "clash of blockbusters", promises to be more intense than ever.

Magnolia Awards Ceremony of the 27th STVF

This year, Magnolia Awards has invited entries of online audio-visual content across all sectors for the first time, garnering enthusiastic feedback from the industry. In the categories of animations, documentaries and foreign dramas, online audio-visual content accounts for approximately 50% of total submissions. Among domestic TV drama entries, the ratio of purely online dramas is around 30%, while the share of online variety show entries within the variety category has reached an impressive 37%.

Magnolia Awards Ceremony of the 27th STVF

The grand opening ceremony of STVF on June 19 will showcase the significant breakthroughs of China’s exceptional TV productions "going global". The event will also demonstrate the proactive contributions made by the China’s TV industry in enhancing the dissemination and influence of Chinese culture, deepening exchanges, and fostering mutual learning among civilizations. The TV market will bring together domestic and foreign leading film and television production companies, film and television shooting bases, broadcast platforms, post-production companies, etc., and hold a series of activities such as promotion conferences for Chinese stories going overseas, technology salons, etc., to give full play to its value as the "window" of the most mature TV trading platform in Asia. The STVForum will invite leading figures in the TV industry from home and abroad to attend in-depth industry dialogues. The Magnolia Awards jury president and the judges of each unit will also conduct "master classes" for film professionals and ordinary audiences to promote face-to-face communication. The research and evaluation meeting on excellent Shanghai-produced TV dramas will spotlight an array of outstanding Shanghai-produced TV dramas from the past decade, exploring new directions for TV creation through a micro-to-macro approach.

Opening Ceremony of the 27th STVF

Exceptional TV productions may instill the audience with spiritual power, and it is the original intention of STVF to share the achievements of the Magnolia Awards with the public. The Open Screening of this year's Shanghai TV Festival will introduce a professional curation model to cater to citizens' viewing needs and to integrate works, venue environments, audience characteristics, etc. through professional planning. The International TV Showcase will expand channels by setting up a new online showcase column based on the existing Shanghai local TV channels. The "Best Film and TV Shooting Location in Shanghai 2023" will be selected through selection, voting, and "visit to photo spots", for people to unlock a colorful city experience through appealing film and TV productions. Trying to initiate the new sector, the long-standing STVF brand will engage the vibrant Metaverse this year to create Asia's first large-scale independent film and TV festival Metaverse – the Metaverse roadshow center Metafilm. These breakthroughs in space, forms, and participation methods will allow citizens and film enthusiasts to experience STVF in a new way, and endow STVF, which has a history of more than 30 years, with a true humanistic charm.