The festival
SIFF was China’s first international film festival and is accredited by FIAPF as the country’s only competitive feature-film festival with ‘A-list’ status, a tier shared with festivals such as Cannes. It is regarded as one of the largest film festivals in Asia and China’s longest-running international cinema event.
Worth knowing
Its top prize is the Golden Goblet (Jin Jue) Award, given since the first edition in 1993; the festival programs a very large slate each year, drawing thousands of submissions from around the world.
How to attend
The festival’s public screenings are open to ticket buyers, with tickets sold online (and historically selling out quickly) in the period leading up to the June event.
Awards & submissions
SIFF was China’s first international film festival and remains the country’s only FIAPF-accredited competitive feature festival with top-tier ‘A-list’ status. Its Golden Goblet Awards, presented since the first edition in 1993, span several competitions — the Main Competition for feature films, the Asian New Talent Award, and documentary, animation and short-film sections — drawing thousands of submissions from around the world each year. Alongside the awards, SIFF runs a large film market and industry forum and programs an extensive slate of public screenings across Shanghai each June, over roughly ten days. Public tickets sell online, historically going fast. Filmmakers enter through the official call for entries on the siff.com website, which sets eligibility windows and deadlines by category each year.
Official site →Dates and programs change year to year — check the official site for the current edition.