June in Shanghai has its own particular rhythm. The humidity settles in, the plane trees of the former French Concession turn dense and green, and for ten days the city becomes one of the focal points of the Asian film world. The Shanghai International Film Festival — SIFF — has been running since 1993, and at its 28th edition this year, held from June 12 to 21, it remains the only film festival in mainland China accredited by FIAPF, the body that oversees the global classification system for competitive international film festivals. That accreditation places SIFF within the same competitive category as Cannes, Berlin, and Venice — a status the festival retained following FIAPF’s updated accreditation review in early 2026.
How It Started
The idea for the festival emerged in the mid-1980s among Shanghai filmmakers, directors, and actors who saw international exchange as essential to the future of Chinese cinema. In 1992, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television jointly applied to the State Council for approval to establish an international film festival in the city.
The first edition opened on October 7, 1993, at the Shanghai Film Art Center. Director Xie Jin chaired the jury, joined by international figures including Oliver Stone, Nagisa Oshima, and Tsui Hark. The inaugural festival reportedly attracted more than 300,000 attendees and screened 167 films from 33 countries and regions. SIFF received official FIAPF accreditation the following year, becoming China’s first competitive international feature film festival recognized at the “A-category” level.
In its early years, the festival operated on a biennial basis before eventually shifting to an annual June schedule, where it has remained ever since.
What the Festival Actually Is
SIFF operates through four interconnected pillars: the Golden Goblet Awards competition, SIFF Mart, an industry forum platform, and a large-scale public screening program. For most audiences in Shanghai, the festival is defined less by red carpets than by access — hundreds of international films shown across cinemas throughout the city, with tickets that routinely sell out within minutes.
At the 27th edition in 2025, the festival received more than 3,900 submissions from 119 countries and regions, with roughly 77 percent of Golden Goblet entries presented as world premieres. Around 410 films were screened across 48 cinemas, generating close to 500,000 admissions through screenings, forums, and audience events.
This year, SIFF recorded approximately 4,100 submissions from 125 countries and regions, setting a new festival record. Around 82 percent of competition entries are world or international premieres, with first-time submissions arriving from Ghana and Mozambique.
The Golden Goblet
The Golden Goblet remains the festival’s central competition platform, divided into five sections: Main Competition, Asian New Talent, Documentary, Animation, and Short Film.
This year, Tony Leung Chiu-wai serves as President of the Main Competition Jury. Across a career spanning more than four decades, Leung has collaborated with directors including Wong Kar-wai, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Zhang Yimou, Ang Lee, and John Woo. In 2021, he became the first Chinese actor to receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival, and in 2024 he served as jury president at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen chairs the Asian New Talent section, one of SIFF’s most closely watched programs. Restricted to first- and second-feature directors of Asian nationality or heritage, the section has historically functioned as a significant launching platform for emerging regional filmmakers.
Altogether, the 2026 Golden Goblet juries include 21 members from 16 countries and regions.
What’s Screening in 2026
This year’s edition will present more than 420 films across over 1,500 screenings. Beyond the competition lineup, the festival includes a broad range of curated sections: SIFF Visions in IMAX and Dolby Vision, SIFF Sci-Fi, Genre Collages, Asian Collection, and New From Auteur.
Among the major retrospective programs is “Wild Dreams,” a tribute marking both Billy Wilder’s 120th birth anniversary and the centennial of Marilyn Monroe. The festival will also present a 4K restoration screening of Tsui Hark’s Peking Opera Blues in collaboration with Bulgari.
A major Ken Loach retrospective — titled Lens as Witness — further reflects SIFF’s continuing emphasis on politically and socially engaged cinema alongside commercial and mainstream programming.
The festival’s international programming this year also carries a noticeable diplomatic dimension. SIFF is marking the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt through an Egyptian Film Week featuring works by Youssef Chahine, while a “Focus Brazil” program has been organized as part of the China-Brazil Year of Culture initiative.
The opening film is Afterpiece, the feature directorial debut of Hong Kong filmmaker Keane T.K. Wong, produced by Derek Yee under the Hong Kong Directors Succession Scheme. The film stars Stephen Fung, Angela Yuen, Chrissie Chau, and Myolie Wu, and will receive its world premiere on June 12.
The Industry Side
Alongside the public-facing screenings, SIFF Mart functions as one of the festival’s core professional platforms for rights sales, co-production meetings, financing discussions, and project pitching.
At the 2025 edition, the market hosted roughly 200 exhibitors and more than 50 industry activities, including forums, project presentations, and producer dialogues, attracting over 10,000 industry participants.
The Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance, initiated by SIFF in 2018, has also continued expanding. What began as a network of 31 institutions across 29 countries has grown into a partnership platform connecting 57 organizations in 50 countries, supporting co-productions, programming exchanges, and regional distribution cooperation.
Getting Tickets
The official screening schedule will be released on June 2, with ticket sales beginning June 5 through Taopiaopiao, the festival’s primary online ticketing partner.
Competition for high-profile screenings — particularly gala premieres, restored classics, and sessions with filmmaker Q&As — is intense. Physical ticket counters at venues such as the Shanghai Film Art Center traditionally open shortly after online sales begin, and lining up for paper tickets has gradually become part of the festival culture itself.
This year, SIFF is also expanding audience engagement through “blind box” ticket packages, citywalk programs, SIFF Salon discussions, and more than 100 audience meet-and-greet events organized in partnership with Xiaohongshu. A new SIFF Passport initiative will connect screenings with restaurants, retail spaces, and tourism activities across the city.
Extended screenings will continue through June 28, allowing audiences to revisit Golden Goblet winners and selected popular titles after the main festival period concludes.
The Venues
The Shanghai Film Art Center remains the festival’s symbolic home, serving as a central venue for press screenings, forums, and gala events. The Shanghai Grand Theatre at People’s Square hosts the opening and closing ceremonies.
From there, the festival spreads outward across all 16 districts of Shanghai. In recent years, SIFF has also expanded into cities across the Yangtze River Delta, including Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Hefei, reflecting the festival’s growing regional footprint.
A City With a Long Film Memory
Shanghai was not merely an early Chinese film city — for much of the 20th century, it was the center of the country’s studio system, star culture, and cinematic modernity. Long before streaming platforms or multiplex chains reshaped viewing habits, Shanghai helped define the grammar of Chinese popular cinema through studios such as Mingxing and Lianhua, whose films shaped urban melodrama and commercial filmmaking for generations.
SIFF draws heavily on that legacy. Its restorations, retrospectives, and archival screenings are not simply decorative side programming, but reminders that Shanghai’s relationship with cinema has always extended beyond entertainment into public culture, urban identity, and industrial history.
For visitors arriving in Shanghai in the second half of June, that history becomes unusually visible. The city leans into cinema for ten days — not only inside theaters, but across bookstores, cafés, exhibition spaces, and the streets surrounding its old movie palaces. Few film festivals in Asia feel quite as embedded in the texture of their host city.
Enjoyed This Story? Subscribe to EntertainLens for more entertainment insights.
