Written by Patrick Frater
Mega-glitz had been shaken off the agenda by the recent Sichuan earthquake, and the opening ceremony of the 11th Shanghai Int'l Film Fest managed to be the quickest and most effective in recent memory. It was both respectful of the dead and celebratory of cinema.
The city's Grand Theater features an inverted semi-circular roof mounted on top of a square box that was lit up in gold for the occasion. Its long red carpet was a livid slash through the early evening gloom.
The 300 celebrities who walked up it were smart, elegant and sassy rather than overtly sexy. All were given a red, paper heart to sign and place in a condolence decoration at the top of the steps.
VIPs included Zhou Xun, Jia Zhangke, Daniel Wu£¬Fan Bingbing, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Vivian Wu, Donnie Yen, Buddhadev Dasgupta - as well as jurors Ulrich Felsberg, Joan Chen, Bille August and Kaori Momoi. Execs in attendance included Tom Yoda, Tsui Siuming, Michael J. Werner, Yu Dong and James Ross.
Inside the hall, speeches were limited to those of evergreen SARFT vice minister Zhao Shi and jury prexy Wong Kar-wai, while there was another emotional moment when recently widowed Carolyn Choa accepted a posthumous award for the late Anthony Minghella.
Earlier in the day, before the pomp of the official opening, fest hosted a well-attended event with Zhang Ziyi and Jackie Chan going over the history of the earthquake and their charitable responses to it.
Sunday saw the beginning of business. Morning brought the opening of the SIFF Market, a film sales and services event strung along three corridors of the Crowne Plaza Hotel that abuts the Film Center.
Sellers are predominantly Chinese shingles and institutions, while buyer registrations reflect a wider, mostly Asian mix.
(From www.varityasiaonline.com)
