Shanghai Fest tries to ride Slumdog's fame

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Boyle to chair Shanghai film festival jury Sen-lun Yu in Beijing 27 Mar 2009 10:22

The Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) has announced that Danny Boyle will chair the international jury at the upcoming 12th edition of the festival (June 13-21). Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire had its China premiere in Beijing yesterday (March 26) and the film is opening on more than 1,000 screens this weekend. At a press conference in Beijing this week, Boyle said he would give full support to SIFF and expressed interest in working with China. "When you have a city that is full of people and stories like Mumbai, Beijing or Shanghai, it's just so much excitement and potential for a filmmaker. It's like a dream come true," he told Chinese media during the Slumdog premiere. SIFF director Tang Lijune had tried in previous years to invite Boyle to chair the festival's international competition, also known as the Jinjue Competition. "The great success of Slumdog made us more determined to have him at SIFF," she said. "One of the goals of SIFF is to further enhance its market function through co-production events. Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire is generally considered as a good example of cultural exchange between the East and West." This year SIFF will again hold its two co-production markets – CFPC (China Film Pitch and Catch) and CoFPC (Co-Production Film Pitch and Catch).