Shanghai International Film Festival, to launch on June 14

The 17th Shanghai International Film Festival will raise its curtain on June 14. Local film buffs will be offered about 300 Chinese and foreign films in 35 cinemas during the eight-day event.

The International Film Panorama, a major festival event, will showcase the representative works of Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, French director Alain Renais, and Chinese directors Jiang Wen and Wu Tianming.

Old domestic movies starring actress Ruan Lingyu - "Love and Obligation" and "Goddess" - have been restored and will be shown during the festival about 80 years after their debut in the city.

The festival will also screen recent critically acclaimed films such as "Blue Jasmine," "Dallas Buyers Club," "Like Father, Like Son" and "Sacro Gra."

The Shanghai Film Art Center, Yonghua Cinema, Peace Cinema and Studio City Cinema are among the 35 theaters that will screen festival films with English and Chinese subtitles.

According to Fu Wenxia, an official with the festival's organizing committee, this year a record 1,099 entries were received from all over the world to compete for the fest's coveted Golden Goblet award.

Actress Gong Li will chair the international jury panel. The seven-member panel also includes British director and scriptwriter Sally Potter, South Korean filmmaker Im Sang-soo, Japanese director Shunji Iwai, Iranian actor Payman Maadi, Danish director Lone Scherfig and mainland filmmaker Liu Jie.

"More than 400 international film celebrities will walk the festival's opening red carpet," Fu said. "The festival will also host film markets and forums to discuss the latest trends in filmmaking. It will release new film co-production plans and launch a production center for micro movies and online series. We hope that the annual event can impel the domestic film industry and discover a lot more talent."

Before the film fest, the 20th Shanghai Television Festival will be held from June 9 to 13. The TV gala offers diversified programs of the Magnolia awards, TV forums and the Shanghai Student TV Festival.