The New York Film Academy (NYFA) was proud and honored to host Shanghai Film Week from Jan. 9-12, created in partnership with the Shanghai Film Group, Shanghai Film Art Academy, and the Shanghai Film Distribution and Exhibition Association.
A vivid celebration of Chinese film and culture, Shanghai Film Week coincides with the beginning of the 2018 Chinese New Year festivities. The joy of the New Year was a part of the magic behind the enthusiastic and full turnout, with many of the events of the week seeing packed audiences and full houses.
On its opening day, Shanghai Film Week shared space with Chinese Cultural Performances at the Jewish Heritage in downtown New York. The Chinese Cultural Performances offered a wide and colorful variety of presentations from Shanghai-based cultural and educational institutions, from folk dancing and music to martial arts.
Delighted attendees were treated to presentations by the East China Normal University, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Film Art Academy, and Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The performances concluded with a ceremony to acknowledge and thank the many prestigious institutions and talented individuals involved in shaping the Chinese Cultural Performances.
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Following on the energy of the performances, Shanghai Film Week continued the theme of celebration with a focus on Chinese film. The assembled crowd was treated to a Film Panel hosted by New York Film Academy President Michael J. Young.
Shanghai Film Week’s Film Panel discussion offered rare insight, flavored with optimism, on topics from the history of cinema in China to the future of the international entertainment industry. Industry experts discussed “The Present and Future State of the U.S. and China Film Collaboration,” with panelists including award-winning author and NYU Tisch professor David Irving, Shanghai Film Art Academy President Jiang Bo, renowned film critic and NYFA instructor Peter Rainer, film director of the first screening film Sherwood Hu, NYFA Chair of Broadcast Journalism Bill Einreinhofer, and Vice President of the Shanghai Film Group Corporation Xiaojun Wang.
After the panel, many more guests arrived for the Shanghai Film Week Opening Ceremony and first film screening. A rousing speech by Deputy Consul General Zhang Meifang from Consulate General of People’s Republic of China in New York and a ceremonial ribbon-cutting kicked off the Opening Ceremony, immediately followed by the screening of panelist and film director Sherwood Hu’s 2013 feature “Amazing.”
The popular film features NBA superstars Scottie Pippen, Mel Chude, Dwight Howard, and Carmelo Anthony, and offered the enthusiastic audience an exciting ride through the world of a virtual reality game that takes on a life of its own.
Shanghai Film Week also screened six additional films at the NYFA Theatre at its Battery Park campus, all of which have won numerous awards and accolades in China. These films included “The Last Tomb,” “The Monkey King,” “I Wish I Knew,” “Phurbu & Tenzin,” “Legend of the Naga Pearls,” and “Cock and Bull.”
The New York Film Academy thanks its Shanghai Film Week supporter and partners: Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York; the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV; Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government; Information Office of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government; Shanghai Film Group; and Shanghai Film Art Academy.