All the things you'd want to do this Monday through Thursday. On the schedule this week: movie nights, artistic expression nights and a book launch for charity! Read on (or check out our calendar) for more! more ›

¡Híjole! If last week´s Espacio Femenino´s smorgasbord of Spanish movies wasn't enough, here´s another chance to indulge yourself in cinema en Español. A whole month of Mexican films lies ahead of us, as the Consulate General of Mexico and of Spain have been so kind to dig up a list of classics that will be given us for free. It´s called The 2010 Mexican Bicentennial Film Festival and all we say is: ¡vamos! more ›

Did we ever tell you how much we love Meiwenti Productions or Juan Vargas' slapstick, pervy sense of humor? We were there for the epic Swat Chicks set in sci-fi Shanghai. We walked out thinking WTF!!! (but in a good way). And we giggled and guffawed through last year's Short Erotic Film Awards. more ›

Thanks to the somewhat softened relationship between Taiwan and China, a new film festival opened up last week and will continue into late July. The Cross-Strait Exhibition - a very formal title indeed - marks the first time in history that mainland China and Taiwan are collaborating on a film promotion event. At the same time, new rules for subsidy within the Taiwanese movie industry have just been made official. more ›

The Shanghai International Film Festival dropped by over the weekend and with it came the standard swarm of celebrities. Most of the sitings were more or less expected - Chinese actresses Fan BingBing and Zhang Ziyi (pictured) were there, as well as freedom hater Jackie Chan and director John Woo (no doubt promoting the uber-sucessful Red Cliff) - but big names from the Hollywood elite also made guest appearances. Halle Berry walked the carpet in a Marchesa lilac gown, and Clive Owen spoke during some sort of press conference. Danwei caught some of the opening ceremonies on Youku and called them "cheesy," but - honestly - what opening ceremony in China isn't? If you want celebrity galleries, check out the one on People's Daily Online. more ›

Okay, here is a tip to make your weekend. Tickets to the Meiwenti Short Erotic Film Awards sold out about a month ago. However, for all those of you who couldn't buy tickets, Le Royal Meridien Hotel and Meiwenti are offering a free screening of all the short films on Saturday beginning at 9:30 pm and finishing around 11:30, when everyone who attended the film awards will arrive at Meridien for the afterparty. To read more about the awards, check out Smart Shanghai's interview with Juan Vargas who organized the event. more ›

William Feng is the host of ICS Shanghai's travel show Getaway. New shows go out on Thursdays and are repeated across the week.
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Don't put on your party hats; no, leave those stupid little things at home. This is the weekend is all about Halloween and ghoulish costumes. Kicking things off tonight is the STD (great inspiration when designing your costumes) Halloween bash. Locals Banana Monkey and the Drop Kicks will be joined by Xian based 24-hour Party People... the icing on the cake being Misfits cover band, Horror Business. Nothing goes better with ghouls'n'ghosts than a little Misfits music. If you aren't into Halloween but still want the live music then check out didgeridoo master Phil Conyngham bringing his talent to the crowds (hopefully) at Live Bar. SKO, new school punkers from Beijing will be playing over at Yuyintang. more ›

Singapore Season, a series of cultural diplomacy events that started in London in 2005, has been kickstarted in Shanghai with a sell-out concert by pop star JJ Lin at the Hongkou Stadium last Sunday. more ›

Color us excited. The "Lust, Caution" trailer is out! more ›

Crossing the Line - a documentary by VeryMuchSo Productions with Koryo Tours more ›

See anything newsworthy? Leave us a tip on the Shanghaiist Contribute Page! more ›

The first rule that many foreigners hear about doing anything in China is that you will need guanxi - relationships that help you clear the jungly bureaucracy, receive preferential tax treatment, or "free" land. Of course, the follow-up rule that is never stated in polite company is that guanxi means money, a greased palm, a sop, and a board seat. However, as useful as some relationships can be, they frequently outlive their usefulness and become nothing more than baggage. more ›

From varietyasiaonline.com: more ›

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Hollywood actress Sharon Stone arrived in Shanghai late Tuesday night at Pudong International Airport. After passing immigration casually dressed in white slacks and a dark long-sleeved top, she was quickly driven downtown in a Mercedes Sedan to the JW Marriott Hotel. more ›

to embroil a listed company this year. more ›

The tenth Shanghai International Film Festival starts on June 16, and as the time draws near, people have been wondering what actors and celebs will grace the red carpet on opening night. One report we've read says that Oliver Stone, Maggie Cheung, John Woo, and Stephen Chow will be among the stars that show up. A slightly more snarky report states that Sharon Stone will show up, which is great for we connoisseurs of older women, but which the report says presents something of an image problem for SIFF because, artistically speaking, Sharon Stone is somewhat past her prime. more ›

Chinese news portals have been abuzz lately with the news that a male prostitute has claimed on his blog to have had sex with Chinese film director Jia Zhangke (贾樟柯) who is currently attending the Cannes Film Festival. And Shanghaiist knows once something is claimed on a blog, it is absolutely true. more ›

The end, at least, as an author. Recent news reports revealed that the erstwhile sexual socialite and author Wei Hui (卫慧) the author of the once titillating novel Shanghai Baby (上海宝贝) suffered a major spinal injury that left her in a coma for over 20 days and was in danger of permanent paralysis. The article, in Chinese, is not clear about what happened, but says that it was an accident that occurred in Shanghai while Wei was out "playing," which might mean partying or just out on the town. more ›

Well, opening today in France, at least. We first told you about Summer Palace, the controversial film from Shanghai-born director Lou Ye, last May. Since then, the director of Weekend Lover (1995), Suzhou River (2000) and Purple Butterfly (2003) has been banned for five years from making films in China for submitting Summer Palace to the Cannes Film Festival before it was approved by government censors. This was Lou Ye's second ban — Suzhou River got him two years. more ›

For more del.icio.us links, visit the Shanghaiist Contribute page, which is updated throughout the day. more ›

There's a definitely a buzz for fans of Chinese cinema with the release of Jia Zhangke's new film Still Life 《三峡好人》. In Shanghai and probably the rest of China, the film's theatrical release comes on December 14, the same day that Zhang Yimou's new film Curse of the Golden Flower. And while from the standpoint of the box office returns, it seems pretty clear who the winner will be, Jia doesn't at all seem flustered by the lackluster box office performance that his film has seen in the limited screenings that have happened over the last few weeks. more ›

It’s true, the first Pompidou Centre in China is landing in Shanghai. According to this report (in Chinese) by Oriental Morning Post, Renaud Donnedieude Vabres, culture minister of France, and Bruno Racine, president of the Pompidou Centre (we're going to call it the "PC" from now on), the first PC in Shanghai is going to cover 10,000 square meters at the intersection of Huaihai Zhong Lu and Songshan Lu, near the site of the old French concession police station (pictured). The report was kind of vague, as they often are, but the historic building is expected to be preserved and somehow incorporated into the project. more ›

We'd heard a lot of hype about Hong Kong director Johnnie To's (杜棋峰) new film Exiled (放逐), not least of all because it was one of three Chinese language films that competed at the Venice Film Festival (against new works by Jia Zhangke and Tsai Ming-liang). more ›

Austinist was in an entertainment state of mind as they covered the dickens out of the Austin Film Festival, depicted all the Big 12 football coaches as South Park characters, and interviewed Jose Gonzalez. more ›