The promise heading into this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival was to focus on emerging talent and the rising generation of filmmakers across China and the region. From the evidence so far, the festival is staying true to its word – and has enlisted a host of global industry heavyweights to provide inspiration and a healthy dose of reality.
On the inspiration front: Festival directors Tricia Tuttle (Berlin), Cameron Bailey (Toronto), and Albert Lee (Hong Kong) joined International Film Festival president Chen Guo and former academy president Janet Yang in a series of rallying cries aimed as much at the global industry as at young filmmakers gathered in Shanghai this week.
Tuttle pointed to local hero Diao Yinan as a prime example of what international festivals can do for emerging talent. The Chinese director’s early works were featured at SIFF before he made his own thriller Black coal, thin ice To Berlin in 2014 and came out with the Golden Bear. What programmers everywhere are looking for hasn’t changed, she said.
“We want to be moved, we want to discover something that is not obvious: a voice in the plot,” Tuttle said. “I think the most exciting thing is when we see something new, when the creator gives us a new perspective.”
Yang, who is now a producer, urged festivals and fellow filmmakers to continue looking beyond the obvious.
“When we identify emerging talent, we have to look beyond obvious signs of success,” she said. “We are trying to build pathways for the next generation of filmmakers and recognize their potential early. Art teaches the next generation how to observe, imagine and express. In a world shaped by technology and speed, these abilities are more important than ever. The next great director may come from a path that our industry has not yet discovered.”
SIFF has a range of initiatives aiming to do just that – among them the SIFF ING Young Filmmakers programme, the SIFF NEXT Film Project boot camp and the SIFF YOUNG x Shanghai program to support young filmmakers – and can point to 78 films that have gone on to theatrical release after passing through its hands.
Providing the reality check was Chinese star Joan Chen, who can be found in the festival’s sidebar questioning the filmmakers selected for SIFF’s New Talent Project. When she challenged the first director, Qiu Chiu – who antiquities Exploring life and love in third-century China – to demonstrate how an ancient story told artistically could attract a contemporary audience to cinemas, he was ready.
“It will be like a work of art, just like you go to look at a masterpiece in a gallery, or you go to see film art in the cinema,” he said.
The attractive effect of simply being recognized for your work was evident in director Xu Lei’s reaction (Summer investigator) to be selected as one of the Young Filmmakers of SIFF 2026. With the FIFA World Cup being held simultaneously in North America, he came up with an apt metaphor.
“I now know exactly how Neymar felt when he was included in the World Cup squad at the last minute,” he said. “This choice is both supportive and encouraging. I will take this opportunity to continue focusing on filmmaking and creative work.”
