The 22nd STVF Announces Jury List for the Magnolia Awards

On April 14, the Organizing Committee of the 22nd Shanghai TV Festival released some important news again. In accordance with the previous announcement of the chairpersons for three categories of Magnolia Awards, the famous Chinese director and actor Zhang Guoli for the TV Series Category, well-acclaimed US producer Lois Vossen for the Documentary Category and Bozidar Zecevic, Serbian critic and scriptwriter, the Animation Category. Now the jury panels of different categories are revealed finally: Chinese director Kok Leung Kuk, actor Hawick Lau, actress Qin Hailu, scriptwriter Zhang Yongchen and American scriptwriter and producer, John Mankiewicz are to serve as the judges of the TV Series Category; Korean director and producer Park Sehyung and Chinese director Zhouhao will act as the judges of the Documentary Category and Indian producer Mandy Singh and Chinese director Shen Leping will serve as the judges of the Animation Category.

The TV Series Category of the Magnolia Awards has always been the focus of attention for the media and audiences from home and abroad. The jury panel every year is star-studded and it is no exception this year. Born in a family of actors, Hawick Lau signed a contract with Hong Kong broadcaster TVB and began his career in as early as 1994. After 2007, he gradually shifted his focus of career to China’s Mainland and starred in numerous hit TV series like Sealed with a Kiss, A Clear Midsummer Night, Lady & Liar and Chronicle of Life. Last year, his five TV series overwhelmed the top ten mainstream TV stations and almost all online video platforms with over 10 billion click rate within just half a year, thus he is also praised as “ Mr. 10 Billion”. When asked about the jury work in STVF, Lau said，“I have made records and starred in many TV series and I have also received some awards after I vegan my career more 20 years ago. But this is my first time that I am invited to work as a judge in the Festival. I’m really honored. Although I am working on the set of the TV Series Successor, I am so eager to the jury work in June”

Like Hawick Lau, Qin Hailu is also known for her “high quality and productivity”. Over the past 10 years, she has starred or participated in more than 30 TV series with excellent performance both in audience rating and public praise, such as Nuren hua， If Life Cheats You and Mum Go Go Go. She has created many vivid heroines in different times and social environment. Particularly, in the great TV series of Red Sorghum, the character, Xianshu, she played was a new one created out of the original work. She was unanimously approved by both the audience and the industry with her excellent performance and won the prize of the “Best Supporting Actress of the Magnolia Awards”. When interviewed, Qin said,“It’s my great honor to be the judge of the TV Series Category of STVF and I will treat every work and actor seriously and fairly and show my sincere respect for all the personnel working behind the scene. Wish the 22nd STVF Magnolia Awards a perfect gathering and memory for us.”

Hong Kong director Kok Leung Kuk can be regarded as one of the leading figures in the field of the costume sword-play dramas. The following TV series adapted from Louis Cha’s work The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Duke of Mount Deer, Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, The Return of the Condor Heroes and Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils directed by Kok Leung Kuk have become the classic TV series of several generations. Nowadays, his new works, including Ice Fantasy and so on will gradually be presented to the audience within this year. Mr. Zhang Yongchen, who will also work as the judge at the Festival, is regarded as one of the four most outstanding scriptwriters in China. His works include Moment in Peking, Love Story in Shanghai and The Last Concubine. In particular, the script Red Recipe made him the winner of the TV Golden Eagle Award, the Flying Goddess Award and the Best Works Award in 1999. This year, he will act as the script writer of the TV series entitled A Lonesome Fragrance Waiting to be Appreciated starred by Wallace Chung and Angelababy. The only one foreign judge of the TV section is John Mankiewicz, the famous American film and TV scripter who has created the scripts for the popular American TV series like House of Cards, Miami Vice, House M.D and The Mentalist and so on.

As for the Documentary Category, apart from the president of the jury——the celebrated American producer Lois Vossen, Korean director Park Sehyung and Chinese director Zhou Hao are also included in the jury panel. Park Sehyung joined KBS TV Station in South Korea in 1999, directing documentaries and programs of current interests and worked as a journalist in Europe later. In 2008, his work Asian Corridor in Heaven won the Best Documentary Emmy Nomination. Zhou Hao also began his career as a journalist and the documentary Cotton he directed won the 51st the Best Documentary of Taipei Golden Horse Award. In 2015, the documentary The Chinese Mayor reflecting the destiny of the cities received awards in the Sundance Film Festival, the Golden Horse Award and the Asia Pacific Film Festival successively.

In terms of the Animation Category, Indian producer Mandy Singh is another foreign judge apart from Bozidar Zecevic, president of the jury——Serbian critic and scriptwriter. As an animator, Singh participated in the postproduction and animation production work of the Oscar-winning film， The Golden Compass and Life of Pi. The other judge of the Category is Shen Leping, CEO of Sparkly Key Animation Studio, a leading enterprise in the animation industry who has been devoted himself to the game and animation industry since 1996. In 2007, he planned and produced China’s first 3D martial arts animation TV series The Legend of Qin and it has been serialized till now. So far, The Legend of Qin has won over 110 awards of all kinds both home and abroad and has been sold and promoted to 37 overseas countries and regions.

This 22nd Shanghai TV Festival will be held from June 6 to 10. All awards will be unveiled at the” Blooming Magnolia” Awards Ceremony on the evening of June 10.