(Variety) Chinese actor-director Jiang Wen will head the jury at the upcoming Shanghai International Film Festival, it was announced Monday.
As an actor, Jiang is renowned for his roles in “Hibiscus Town” (1986) and “Red Sorghum” (1987). Audiences around the world saw him in 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” in which he played Baze Malbus.
Jiang made his directorial debut in 1994 with “In the Heat of the Sun,” for which he also wrote the script. The film won him six Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan. His second feature, “Devils on the Doorstep,” won the Grand Prix at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, and his 2010 film “Let the Bullets Fly” won him the prize for best adapted screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards and the trophy for best director from the Hong Kong Film Critics’ Society.
Jiang served on the jury of the Moscow International Film Festival in 2001.
Earlier this month, the Shanghai fest announced that it would feature the “Sissi trilogy” as part of its Classics sidebar to celebrate the 80th birthday of the late Romy Schneider, the Austrian actress who played Empress Elisabeth in the films. The series will be shown in digital cinema package format.
The Shanghai festival, in its 21st edition this year, runs June 16-25.
Source: Variety By Vivienne Chow