{"id":491186,"date":"2026-06-13T17:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T17:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/491186\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T17:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T17:51:09","slug":"michelle-yeoh-tony-leung-lead-shanghai-festival-star-studded-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/491186\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelle Yeoh, Tony Leung Lead Shanghai Festival Star-Studded Opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe 28th Shanghai International Film Festival<\/a> launched Saturday at the city\u2019s Grand Theatre, drawing a constellation of Chinese-language stars to its opening red carpet and centering its ceremony on cinema\u2019s human core rather than the geopolitical flash that has marked other festivals this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tTony Leung Chiu-wai<\/a>, who serves as jury president of the Golden Goblet competition, appeared on the red carpet alongside his wife Carina Lau and fellow jurors Dora Bouchoucha, Guan Hu, Aktan Arym Kubat, D\u00e9a Kulumbegashvili, Fernanda Valadez, and Xin Zhilei.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI have acted in many movies and played many different roles, but cinema remains just as fascinating to me,\u201d Leung said. \u201cThrough different characters, experiencing different lives and different stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ceremony\u2019s standout moment came with the Lifetime Achievement Award presentation to Lisa Lu, the \u201cCrazy Rich Asians\u201d actor who has already passed her 100th birthday by the Chinese calendar. She was introduced by fellow cinema legend Joan Chen, who recalled how Lu had gifted her dresses for red carpet appearances when Chen was first breaking into Hollywood. Lu arrived flanked by director Sherwood Hu and her two daughters, Lucia Hwong and Lorette Hwong.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShanghai is my hometown, and it is also where my artistic journey began,\u201d Lu said from the stage. \u201cLooking at so many outstanding filmmakers present here today, if there is an opportunity in the future, please get in touch with me! I have not retired. I will continue to act!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVeteran Fifth Generation filmmaker Zhang Yimou<\/a> received an outstanding contribution to Chinese cinema award.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ceremony opened with a performer hoisted on a robotic arm interacting with projections of environments drawn from international and Chinese films, setting the tone for a festival that is leaning into artificial intelligence while insisting on cinema\u2019s irreducible humanity. Shanghai vice mayor Lu Shan, who officially declared the festival open, made that tension explicit.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe all have to answer a question: On what basis is cinema irreplaceable?\u201d Lu said. \u201cFrom film reels to digital cinema, from live-action shooting to AI generation, the language of technology is constantly upgrading. However, the fundamentals of cinema have not changed. Humanity is always the core of creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the new tech initiatives is an AI Backlot section developed with Hailuo AI, pairing four traditional directors with four AI creators to produce short films, alongside a Tech Creation and Fabrication Unit featuring interactive virtual reality exhibitions.<\/p>\n

\n\tAcademy Award winner Michelle Yeoh<\/a> walked the carpet with the cast of her new project \u201cThis Is My Time\u201d \u2013 directed by Bai Xue and produced by Muye Wen \u2013 alongside Liu Haoran, Bai Ke, Rina Sa, and Tian Yu. Bona Film Group CEO Yu Dong brought two productions tied to Hong Kong director Andrew Lau: \u201cCrossing,\u201d starring Liu Ye, Wang Zhifei, David Wang, Zhang Li, Li Chen, Cao Bingkun, and Wang Tianchen; and \u201cKashmir Princess,\u201d with Chen Kun and Gao Yuanyuan.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe opening night film was \u201cAfterpiece,\u201d directed by Keane T.K. Wong and produced by Derek Yee, led by Stephen Fung and Myolie Wu.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector Dong Runnian and producer Ying Luojia also brought the cast of \u201cMake Zhonghe Great Again\u201d \u2013 the August-slated sequel to \u201cJohnny Keep Walking!\u201d \u2013 to the carpet, including Zhang Ruoyun, Bai Ke, Gao Ye, Sun Yizhou, David Wang, Li Chen, and Tian Yu.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe festival\u2019s main program spans 420 films, including 41 world premieres across its competition sections \u2013 all entries in the Golden Goblet Awards competition and documentary units are world premieres. Sidebars range from retrospectives on Billy Wilder and Ken Loach to an Egyptian Film Week and a program marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. Three animations are also set for summer release: Light Chaser Animation\u2019s \u201cThree Kingdoms: The Beginning,\u201d \u201cAll Wishes Come True!,\u201d and \u201cDemon Agent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the youth development front, the festival is expanding its SIFF ING mobile filmmaking camp and opening SIFF NEXT incubation workshops to the public. Leung and Singapore director Anthony Chen will lead masterclasses for emerging filmmakers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe festival plays through June 22. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 28th Shanghai International Film Festival launched Saturday at the city\u2019s Grand Theatre, drawing a constellation of Chinese-language…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,49766,226146,169914,89813],"class_list":["post-491186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-michelle-yeoh","tag-shanghai-international-film-festival","tag-tony-leung-chiu-wai","tag-zhang-yimou"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}