It seems like news about Killers, an apparently god awful spy thriller/comedy starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, closing the Shanghai International Film Festival has recently gotten people in the U.S. a little heated. The fact that this movie, which was called a "brain-deadening collision of high concept and low standards" by the New York Times and earned a whimperingly low 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, may be one of the 20 foreign movies Chinese audiences can see this year led one media outlet to apologize to us. more ›

The Shanghai International Film Festival kicked off its 13th iteration this Saturday with John Woo acting as jury president (taking over from Danny Boyle last year - guess we won't be hearing much about the issue of censorship this time around, eh?) Stars in attendance included the usual bunch of Zhao Wei (Vicki Zhao), Gong Li, Jet Li and Bingbings Fan and Li. International star power seemed to be a bit lackluster this time around, but included Luc Besson, Adrien Brody, and John Cusack. more ›

Danish-Swedish drama, "Original," which Slumdog director Danny Boyle called a "light, touching and subversive study of mental illness that is both compassionate and never sentimental." The movie follows the trials of Henry, a man who has acted as a pale reflection of other people's expectations his whole life, when he decides to make an effort at becoming a true original. Sverrir Gudnason, who plays the male lead in the movie, also won the SIFF's best actor award. The jury called his performance "brilliant, sensitive and humorous..." and "absolutely mesmerizing." Source: Variety more ›

• Danny Boyle, talking at the Shanghai International Film Festival, has taken a stance against censorship in thsi country. [Guardian.co.uk]
• Want to hear more about what Danny Boyle has to say? Check out That's Shanghai's interview with him. He reveals that Ewan McGregor will be here today, which is all we wanted to know anyway. [Urbanatomy]
• Speaking of, Peter Chan has unveiled his huge 44 million RMB set - a recreation of 1905 downtown Hong Kong - in Shanghai for his upcoming film, Bodyguards and Assasins, as part of the SIFF. [Straits Times]

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 ›

Cinemaphiles and celebrity lovers - look this way! In just a couple of weeks, the Shanghai International Film Festival will kick off for a whole nine days, starting June 13. more ›

As previously mentioned, Shanghai's 11th annual International Film Festival kicked off this weekend (albeit not too smoothly) with an eclectic mix of movies showing all day and night at its 23 theaters. In a place like China that receives so small a selection of international features, this is an incredible opportunity to see works you otherwise wouldn't have a chance to catch in a theater. We only made it to two screenings, but both were well attended and received by diverse international audiences. Below are brief descriptions of what we saw and we encourage readers to add any films that they would recommend seeing in the remaining week of screenings. more ›

By Sue Anne Tay more ›

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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 ›

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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 ›

... because he's the head of the jury of the Shanghai International Film Festival, and yet managed to find time during this busy schedule to head up to Beijing to promote his new book and film. People have said that despite the SIFF not being the most prestigious or high-profile of film fests, Besson ought to have taken his job more seriously -- with all those films to watch, and a jury to head (the head of the jury often has to settle disagreements about the films and make sure all decisions are made fairly), how could someone just head over to Beijing, and for three days no less? Bad form -- who knows? In this interview Besson makes it seem as if he worked hard on the 17 films in the competition, but what would you expect him to say? more ›

Shanghaiist just realized that the Shanghai International Television Festival is concurrent with and part of the Shanghai International Film Festival. Since most of the spotlight naturally falls on the silver screen, we thought we might check out who won what in the TV awards. One name that caught our attention was Emma Lung's -- she's a young Australian actress that starred in a TV film called Stranded and won best actress for this role in Shanghai. If you're wondering about her surname, you're onto something -- she's one-quarter Chinese (paternal grandfather). more ›

Photo by shanghai ultra taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site. more ›

"Minor axis of evil" -- an elliptical (pun intended) statement by which we really mean China consorts with terrorists. Yes folks, this is what the US State Department spokesman implied through his comments regarding Iran's presence at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting. According to this spokesman, inviting Iran over casts doubt on the SCO's self-proclaimed mission of combating terrorism and extremism in the region. more ›

It's been an eventful few weeks on the movie front as we dodge the shitty movies that get thrown at us left and right. Chinese audiences weren't too keen on The Da Vinci Code, in part because most of the people who had gone to see it had already read the book, and the plot of the movie hewed so closely to the book that there was little suspense as to what the conclusion would be. Oh well, at least we have the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival (Jun 17-25) to look forward to. Or not -- we've never been before. Several years ago, we went to buy tickets, but quickly lost heart after we saw the huge lines. Movie theater etiquette aside, we see no real point in spending that much dough when films like The Passenger are readily available at your local DVD shop -- every day is a film festival in Shanghai! more ›

If you're like Shanghaiist, you like going to the movies. And if you're like Shanghaiist, you rarely go to the movies in Shanghai -- because, well, most of the movies that show here are crap. (And because you can buy 10 DVDs on the street for the price of one ticket to the theater.) Thank God then for the Shanghai International Film Festival, which concludes this weekend. Finally, we get some indie and art house fare on the big screen. Right? Right? more ›

If you are a foreign man on the prowl for a Shanghainese bride, we've got good news for you: kung fu star Jackie Chan isn't going to stand in your way. In fact, if you send him your contact info -- and a photo, we assume -- he might even hook you up himself. It's all part of his diabolical plan to dropkick the globe with Chinese culture. (His attempt to accomplish this through mediocre movies has apparently failed.) Global wire services are running stories based on comments Chan made during the Shanghai International Film Festival. This is from the AP: more ›