The 23rd Shanghai TV Festival Jury Presidents

The Organizing Committee of the 23rd Shanghai TV Festival announced on April 6th ,the Jury Chairmen for this year’s Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Awards: the famous Chinese director Mao Weining, who was awarded the 21st Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award for Best Director for his TV serial Ordinary World will be the chairman of the jury for TV Drama. The US documentary producer Simon Kilmurry and the British cartoon producer and freelance animation media consultant Joan Lofts will be the chairmen of the juries for Documentary and Animation respectively.  The 23rd Shanghai TV Festival is scheduled to take place during 12-16 June, 2017.

Chairman of the Jury for TV Drama: Mao Weining

In 1982, the 19-year-old Mao Weining was admitted to the Department of Literature of Theater at Shanghai Theatre Academy and traveled from Beijing to Shanghai. From then on, he forged an indissoluble bond with television and Shanghai. In the following years of his directorial career, he has presented his excellent artistic talent and unique personal charm on the screen through hundreds of pieces of film and television works.

The first TV drama of the theme on spy war Silent Oath that Mao Weining directed was shown in 2002. In addition to its impressive ratings, the TV serial has also won 4 important awards at the 23rd China TV Drama Flying Apsaras Awards Ceremony, including the prominant and honory Best Director Award. Since then, Mao Weining continued to dedicate a series of excellent TV drama works to the audience: Plum Blossom File, The  Dawns Here Are Quiet, Police Story, Nameless Heroes, etc.

In 2015, the TV serial Ordinary World directed by Mao Weining and starring by Wang Lei, Tong Liya, Yuan Hong and Li Xiaomeng was shown on Dragon TV and BTV. Its realistic approach and epic temperament once again amazed the audience and has ultimately won the 21st Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Awards of Best Director.

In fact, this is not the first time that Mao Weining was appointed the judge for STVF Magnolia Awards. Early in 2009, he has already participated in the final evaluation of the Magnolia Awards. This time, he has taken on more responsibility. Director Mao Weining considered himself incompetent to fulfill the heavy responsibility, but guaranteed to be impartial when performing his duties.

From the award-winning director of Magnolia Awards to the chairman of jury for the Magnolia Awards TV Drama, Mao Weining admitted that such a change of identity gave him a better understand of the mentality of the judges, “In 2015, my work was nominated with several other works that were all very good. In fact, any one of them was qualified for the final award. Today I understand the difficult choices that the judges had to make and also feel the major responsibility as the chairman of the jury when looking back at my own experience.  It is a challenge to select the best works from all entries and we will make judgment based on a fair attitude and professional aesthetics. In this process, I will put more focus on the work itself other than ratings and other data, because it reflects the creator’s own creative experience and talent.”

Chairman of the Jury for Documentary: Simon Kilmurry 

In Simon Kilmurry’s life of documentary, nothing is more important than the 16 years he spent on the Program “Point of View” (referred to as POV). As the longest-running independent showcase of documentaries in the United States, it uninterruptedly played 14-16 independent documentaries for the audience every year. Since its launch in 1988, more than 400 documentaries produced by POV have received recognition from inside and outside the industry.

During his tenure as an executive producer, Simon Kilmurry has won 17 Emmy Awards and more than 60 Emmy nominations, 6 Peabody Awards and 4 DuPont-Colombia University Awards, as well as 2 International Documentary Association Awards for Best Series. He also served as CEO of AmDoc (American Documentary Association), a non-profit organization of POV during this period, and has conducted extensive cooperation with world-class documentary directors.

In 2015, Simon Kilmurry joined the International Documentary Association (IDA) to oversee program operations, film production, education programs and awards. At the same time, he also acted as judges in world\'s major film festivals, documentary festivals, and established studios and film schools in universities in the United States and other places around the world.

Chairman of the Jury for Cartoon: Joan Lofts

Joan Lofts is an animated filmmaker and a freelance media consultant from the UK. She served as Director of TV Department for Contender Entertainment Group, responsible for the production of hot animated programs such as Trackor Tom, Peppa Pig and Humf. Before that, Joan was the director of the Broadcasting Division of UK ITV 2, responsible for the production, co-production, mergers & acquisitions and all broadcasting activities. Then she was transferred to the Children Department and took on the co-production work of animation program such as Rupert.

After joining BBC, Joan was responsible for the production of animation programs such as The Adventures of Blinky Bill and Just So Stories. She served as a freelance channel consultant for the Disney Channel and other institutions at The Children\'s Channel as well. Joan also served as the judge for British Royal Television Society Award, British Academy of Film and Television Arts and director of the British Animation Film Festival.

Now, as a freelance animation media consultant, Joan assumes positions such as chairman of the cartoon forum of Cartoon Media and project director of the Asian Animation Summit, while organizing seminars on the creation of IP and project venture in the Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia and other regions, remaining active in the field of animation production and development.

For the time being, the program submission of the 23rd Shanghai TV Festival is over. In the next period, the Organizing Committee will carry out preliminary evaluation adhering to the principles of rationality and standard, fairness and impartiality, professionalism and authoritativeness. Please look forward to the shortlist.