INTERNATIONAL TV SHOWCASE| INTERNATIONAL TV SHOWCASE Launched for You to Enjoy or Participate

In the afternoon of June 19, as this year’s Shanghai TV Festival (STVF) kicked off, the INTERNATIONAL TV SHOWCASE and offline public screening programme of STVF were also officially launched at the China Art Museum. This year, the online showcase channel will be further expanded, and the offline public screening programme, echoing urban renewal, will create a “TV festival at our doorstep”, so that the public can enjoy wonderful TV works from home and abroad at 18 hot sites across the city.

INTERNATIONAL TV SHOWCASE is co-organized by STVF, Shanghai Mass Art Center, and Shanghai Television Artists Association and undertaken by China Art Museum, Power Station of Art and the INLET in Bingang Commercial Center under the guidance of Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism and Shanghai Municipal Administration of Radio and Television. At the launching ceremony, the opening film A LONG CHERISHED DREAM was screened, and the film’s director Ke Wensi and producer Miao Tong shared their  insights into creation with the audience.

Expanded showcase and offline public screening channels

Xiao Yeying, Deputy Head of Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, pointed out at the launching ceremony that this edition of STVF “will strengthen the exchange and cooperation between Chinese workers and international peers through activities such as the showcase of outstanding TV programs, online showcase and offline people-oriented public screening, provide the audience with the opportunity to enjoy world-class film and television masterpieces at our doorsteps, and fulfill General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important concept of ‘people’s city built for the people’, to highlight the people-benefiting purpose of STVF, and allow the positive energy conveyed by film and television productions to heal people’s souls and inspire them to push ahead with more power.”

This year’s INTERNATIONAL TV SHOWCASE will zoom in on the latest overseas TV dramas, documentaries and animations. And aside from the existing local TV channels in Shanghai, it will work with the Belt and Road Audio-visual Program Showcase Season sponsored by the National Radio and Television Administration to bring the showcase activities to more cities in China.

The offline public screenings will be unveiled at 18 cultural venues with special characteristics to showcase more than 30 outstanding works submitted for the Magnolia Awards in 8 sections. The 18 screening sites include the China Art Museum, Power Station of Art, INLET, Shanghai Mass Art Center, Shanghai Children’s Library (new venue), Jiading Library, Fengxian Museum, the Songjiang Yunjian Granary Cultural and Creative Park, etc., all of which are popular with Shanghai citizens.

STVF has carefully curated 8 sections spanning parent-child content, domestic animation, humanities and overseas hot dramas, with 36 offline screening sessions. The list of films includes not only Chinese documentary A LONG CHERISHED DREAM, Chinese animation YAO-CHINESE FOLKTALES and THE RAVAGES OF TIME, but also works from the UK, Italy, Finland, France, Poland, Belgium, Russia, Japan and the US.

Rich forms appealing to the public

To create a better viewing experience for the public, some of the offline public screenings will adopt the form of meet-and-greet to offer guided screenings by the cast and crew or theater critics.

British director Covance, who gave an interpretation to A LONG CHERISHED DREAM at the launch ceremony, was the Jury President of the Documentary Section of the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2015. During his career, he has won 2 Oscars and also 16 Emmy trophies, and he has filmed in more than 80 countries and regions around the world.

The documentary A LONG CHERISHED DREAM tells the story of China’s fight against poverty. Sharing his experience of creating the film with the audience, Covance said, “The biggest challenge I found at the time was that as a British person, I didn’t know the Chinese culture or language, and it was somewhat impossible to tell such a story of so many people coming out of poverty in a very short period of time and in an understandable way for the Western audience.” He said that documentaries come with more uncertainty than feature films, but in the end they managed to pull it off, “I’m proud that our film was completed on schedule and presented a lot of very touching stories to people, and that’s the magic of documentaries.”

Among the audience, Zhong Zhenhao, a student majoring in translation, is a “veteran fan” of documentaries. He came here right for the documentary screening: “Many people think that there’re limitations to screen documentaries on the big screen, but I don’t agree, I think it amplifies its advantages, and it’s really enjoyable to watch documentaries offline with everyone around me, as I can communicate with them.”

The offline screening format is favored by many audiences. Although it’s a Monday with torrential rain, many people still rushed to the Chinese Art Musuem. “Such screening is quite interesting. Usually, we’ll have few chances to chat and exchange ideas with so many people when watching documentaries on TV screens.” A college student surnamed Pan said. 

The booking channel for the offline screenings at the Chinese Art Museum will be open from June 20 to 24. According to the venue’s staff, they opened the booking channel early, “We have 270 seats in the art theater, and the seats in all the venues have been booked now.”