{"id":3513,"date":"2026-06-15T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/06\/15\/anthony-chen-talks-heading-shanghai-film-fests-asian-new-talent-jury-reveals-first-tv-series\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T00:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T00:30:00","slug":"anthony-chen-talks-heading-shanghai-film-fests-asian-new-talent-jury-reveals-first-tv-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/06\/15\/anthony-chen-talks-heading-shanghai-film-fests-asian-new-talent-jury-reveals-first-tv-series\/","title":{"rendered":"\u30a2\u30f3\u30bd\u30cb\u30fc\u30fb\u30c1\u30a7\u30f3\u304c\u4e0a\u6d77\u6620\u753b\u796d\u306e\u30a2\u30b8\u30a2\u65b0\u4eba\u5be9\u67fb\u54e1\u9577\u306b\u5c31\u4efb\u3001\u521d\u306e\u30c6\u30ec\u30d3\u30b7\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u3082\u767a\u8868"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\tTime has been at a premium for Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen so far in 2026. He\u2019s been on the road with his latest production, We Are All Strangers<\/em>, which bowed in competition at Berlin in February before opening both the Hong Kong International<\/a> Film Festival and Italy\u2019s Far East Film Festival in Udine in April.<\/p>\n

\tThe film \u2014 a layered family drama \u2014 closes out what Chen calls his \u201cGrowing Up\u201d trilogy, following his Cannes Camera d\u2019Or-winning debut Ilo Ilo<\/em> (2013) and 2019\u2019s Wet Season<\/em> in delving as deeply into the rise and fall of relationships as into life in his home country. \t<\/p>\n

\tBut now comes the Shanghai International Film Festival<\/a>, and with it time to recharge \u2014 and maybe even reflect \u2014 as Chen serves as president of the Chinese event\u2019s Asian New Talent jury. Ilo Ilo<\/em> \u2014 and Cannes \u2014 kick-started his career and lifted him into the global film industry\u2019s consciousness with the acclaim and awards that followed.<\/p>\n

\tSo Chen knows the good that festivals can do. Alongside directors Kamila Andini (Indonesia), Liu Jiayin (China) and Farkhat Sharipov (Kazakhstan), plus Taiwanese actress Wen Qi, he\u2019ll have 12 films from across the region \u2014 all from first- or second-time filmmakers \u2014 to assess.<\/p>\n

\tAs Chen explained on the eve of the festival, the Asian New Talent section wears its legacy proudly, with the likes of Chinese hitmaker Ning Hao (Mongolian Ping Pong<\/em>) and Japanese anime auteur Makoto Shinkai (The Place Promised in Our Early Days<\/em>) unearthed via its competition. He knows there might be tough choices ahead \u2014 but with plenty of coffee at hand, he\u2019s up for the challenge. \t<\/p>\n

\tCan you share your first impressions of the lineup for this year\u2019s Asian New Talent competition?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tThere are already a few titles and directors that have caught my eye, so I\u2019m excited. I can tell there will be some real gems to discover.<\/p>\n

\tWhat\u2019s the process you take into jury duty \u2014 do you research and dig around before your screenings, or prefer to know as little as possible?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tDespite what I just said about being excited by certain titles, I actually like to watch a film cold. I never read reviews or plot synopses. I like to be surprised. So that\u2019s how I will do it in Shanghai, just as I always have. That said, I take jurying very seriously. I\u2019m not a big coffee drinker, but I drink a lot of it when I\u2019m on a jury, just so I don\u2019t fall asleep. For me personally, that\u2019s basic respect for a filmmaker and their work, when you are judging them.<\/p>\n

\tIn what ways did festival screenings and awards for your early films impact your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tI was very fortunate. My first film, Ilo Ilo<\/em>, won over 40 awards around the world, including the Camera d\u2019Or in Cannes and multiple Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan. That essentially launched my career and opened so many doors and opportunities. Which is why I truly believe in the value of film festivals \u2014 they\u2019re such important launchpads for young filmmakers.<\/p>\n

\tWhat do you look for in the movies you watch, and has this evolved over time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tI love to be moved on a human level, not in a tear-jerking, sentimental way, but in a profound way. Those films usually make you reflect and contemplate questions about your own humanity. As a director myself, you also can\u2019t help but be drawn to masterful mise-en-sc\u00e8ne and cinematic language. But the best ones are always those that understand \u2018less is more.\u2019 \t<\/p>\n

\tWhat role do you see the Shanghai festival playing in Chinese-language and Asian cinema?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tThe Asian New Talent section, in particular, is a shining example of Shanghai\u2019s role in discovering young Asian filmmakers. If you look at the list of filmmakers who came through this section, it\u2019s quite luminous. The late Pema Tseden \u2014 whom I miss dearly and admire greatly \u2014 Ning Hao, Makoto Shinkai, Tom Lin are just some of the wonderful talents launched at Shanghai.<\/p>\n

\tAny news on your own work with the Chinese industry? Will you find time to explore partnerships during the festival and market?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tI have a 12-part episodic series that I\u2019ve developed at my company Giraffe Pictures. It is my first dive into the episodic world, and I am excited about show-running this. We are scheduled to go into production in the next few months. It marries food and family \u2014 universal themes, but also what I personally value a lot. This is set up as a Chinese-Singapore co-production and I am partnering [producer] Meng Xie again on this, who worked with me on The Breaking Ice<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\tWhat about the city itself \u2014 is there somewhere you always return to when you visit?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tI love Shanghai. It\u2019s one of my favorite cities in the world, and so different from every other Chinese city because of its East-meets-West legacy. I love walking down the tree-lined streets in the French Concession area, I never get bored of its old-world charm. There are moments you might forget and think you\u2019re in Europe. I love the cafes, the galleries, the fashion boutiques, everything. That\u2019s why it didn\u2019t take me long to say yes to being jury president for the Asian New Talent section.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time has been at a premium for Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen so far in 2026. He\u2019s been on the road with his latest production, We Are All Strangers, which bowed in competition at Berlin in February before opening both the Hong Kong International Film Festival and Italy\u2019s Far East Film Festival in Udine in April. The film \u2014 a layered family drama \u2014 closes out what Chen calls his \u201cGrowing Up\u201d trilogy, following his Cannes Camera d\u2019Or-winning debut Ilo Ilo (2013) and 2019\u2019s Wet Season in delving as deeply into the rise and fall of relationships as into life in his home country. But now comes the Shanghai International Film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115,2,116,27,60,242,429],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-hollywood","category-international","category-movie-news","category-movies","category-shanghai-international-film-festival","category-thr-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}