On February 25, the Organizing Committee of the 22nd Shanghai TV Festival unveiled chairpersons for three categories of Magnolia Awards. Chinese renowned actor Zhang Guoli will lead jury for TV series; US well-acclaimed producer Lois Vossen will chair for documentaries; and Bozidar Zecevic, Serbian critic and scriptwriter, will be in charge of animations. This year’s Shanghai TV Festival will be held from June 6 to 10.
To mirror the development trends of TV industry, Shanghai TV Festival has cut 23 awards to 15 since last year, with four categories including TV Drama, Documentaries, Animations and Variety Shows. The number of awards is downsized, but the quality has been improved. Last year, award-winning works have received acclaims from both TV industry insiders and the general public. As a critical part of this year’s festival, Magnolia Awards have appointed heavyweight industry experts to join the jury for the competition of TV Drama, Documentaries and Animations. And for chairpersons of each category, the organizing committee has invited well-acclaimed artists with wide social influence. In recent years, chairpersons for the jury included Yan Jiangang, Guo Baochang, Zhang Li and Li Shaohong. While for the competition of Variety Shows, the awards will be selected through the collective voting of professional critics.
Zhang Guoli
For years, Zhang Guoli’s works are frequent names in Shanghai TV Festival nominations. In 2008, he was awarded the Best Actor of Magnolia Awards for his outstanding performance in TV Drama Golden Marriage (50th Anniversary). Zhang is also a winner of Best Actor in Cairo Film Festival, China’s various awards including Golden Roaster, Hundred Flowers, Flying Goddess, Golden Eagle and more. To chair the Magnolia Awards will be a fresh experience for Zhang. As a famous industry figure whose titles also include deputy director of TV Directors Association and TV Producers Association of China Television Artists Association, and honorary chairman for Actors Association, Zhang said when accepting the invitation from Shanghai TV Festival: “We will treat every participating artist and work with our professionalism and sincerity. We will try our utmost to do the jury work.”
Lois Vossen
Lois Vossen, chairperson of the jury for Documentary, is the founder and executive producer of the renowned documentary Independent Lens. Her works are insightful and of excellent quality, and have received Emmy Awards, George Foster Peabody Awards, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards, the Best Curated Series of International Documentary Association and seven Academy Awards nominations.
Bozidar Zecevic
Bozidar Zecevic, chairperson of the jury for Animations is the president of the Serbian Branch of ASIFA (Association Internationale du Film d’Animation). He is an acclaimed animation playwright, director and critic. His work Little Prince on the Lake as awarded Golden Medal "Belgrade" for Script at Belgrade International Short Film Festival in 1996. He has so far published more than 100 articles about Serbian movie and TV industry and 7 books, He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement of 2015 Dostoyewski Literature Prize with his latest work titled Serbian Avant-Garde and Cinema.
First launched in 1986, Shanghai TV Festival is an international showcase and one of the most important Asian TV exchange and cooperation platforms, covering TV awards, programs trade, digital media and equipment fair and industry forum. Highlights of the 22nd Shanghai TV Festival to be held in June 2016 include four categories of Magnolia Awards: TV Drama, Documentaries, Animations and Variety Shows; the most influential movie and TV trade fair in Asia; an informative forum program focused on international topics and the latest industrial trends, and an equipment fair collecting top international technology providers in new media, broadcasting, movie and TV. The festival will also showcase selected TV programs and host several activities including Magnolia Awards “Night of Glory” nomination party and “Blooming Magnolia” Awards Ceremony.
State Administration of Radio and Television
