TV festival provides feast of viewing for local audiences

Around 80 acclaimed foreign and domestic TV productions will be broadcast on local TV channels during the 20th Shanghai TV Festival which will run from June 9 to 13.

Some of the productions have also been selected and nominated for the festival\'s Magnolia Awards in categories like TV film, documentary, drama and animation.

More than 40 documentary films from 11 countries will be shown at local theaters and on local TV channels such as Dragon TV, Documentary Channel and ICS. They cover a wide range of genres such as nature, history, the humanities and society. They will be shown in their original version with both English and Chinese subtitles.

German film Lighter Than Orange documents the terrible influence of herbicides on Vietnamese veterans and their children while Daria Klimentova - The Life in Dancing provides an insight into the life and career of the ballet artist.

The Swedish-British documentary film Searching for Sugar Man, which won Best Documentary Feature award at the 85th Academy Awards last year, will be screened to commemorate its director Malik Bendjelloul who died in Stockholm last month at the age of 36.

The film is about the legendary life of American musician Sixto Rodriguez who had a mysterious reputation and popularity in South Africa but vanished without a trace.

TV fans will also be offered Sound City, a nostalgic production about rock \'n\' roll\'s greatest recording studio. It is the directorial debut of Foo Fighters\' leader and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl.

Despite low budgets, TV films and mini-series give directors more freedom to innovate and express their ideas. This year a batch of outstanding examples will be shown, including Sherlock Holmes Series 3, Fleming - The Man Who Would Be Bond and Burton And Taylor.

The Sherlock Holmes series starts with the "impossible" as Holmes experiences a miracle revival in The Empty Hearse. He returns to London and asks his close colleague Doctor Watson to accompany him on another enthralling detective adventure.

Fleming - The Man Who Would Be Bond is a series about the glamorous life of British writer Ian Fleming who created James Bond, the most famous fictional spy in history.

The series reveals the charismatic life style and hidden secrets of Fleming who once worked for British Intelligence in WWII. Bond is to some extent a portrayal of himself.

Burton And Taylor tells the story of famous American film star Elizabeth Taylor and her fifth (and sixth) husband Richard Burton starring after their divorce in the play Private Lives. The previous lovers come together again after the play\'s tour.

As for the animation genre, viewers will be presented the Finnish production Angry Birds Toons and German animation Adventures on Time Island. Both have stunning scenes and creative story lines.

According to Fu Wenxia, an official with the festival\'s organizing committee, the annual TV gala will also host professional TV forums, film and TV market and Asian animation Pitch and Catch. It will provide a wide range of services for TV producers and international buyers to support the domestic TV industry.