Film festival launches ticket sales as venue gets star treatment

Online ticket sales for films to be showcased at the 25th edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival begins at noon on Friday.

Hosted by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the China Media Group and the Shanghai municipal government, this year's SIFF will take place from Thursday to June 16 and showcase more than 400 films in 41 cinemas around the city.

This year, the SIFF, which is one of the 14 competitive feature film festivals in the world accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, received a total of 8,800 film submissions from 128 countries and regions. These will compete for the Golden Goblet Awards in five categories: the main competition, Asian new talent, documentary films, animation films and short films.

About half of the films were submitted between December 2021 and March 2022, and chose to stay on the competition list for a year after the 25th edition of the SIFF was postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.