Shanghai has officially thrown open its gates to the 19th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) much to the excitement of movie enthusiasts.

The film festival which will be held from June 11 to June 19, 2016 at the city's prime venues including the Crown Plaza Shanghai, Shanghai Theatre Academy and Shanghai Global Harbor, has garnered much media attention over its proposed summit on Virtual Reality (VR) films, which will include discussions on the implementation of VR technology in films within the next decade.

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The opening ceremony of SIFF, held on June 11, showcased a star-studded red carpet with celebrities and journalists pouring in from all over the world in huge numbers.

Among the A-listers at the event was Sir Ian McKellen, British actor and scriptwriter famous for playing the role of Gandalf in the Lord of The Rings trilogy. McKellen is attending the festival to promote his 1995 movie Richard III, which will be screened at the SIFF to mark 400 years of Shakespeare's death.

Other celebrities who stole the limelight at the festival's opening ceremony include the likes of Kim Jiwon, Lee Min Ho, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Fan Bingbing and Li Chen.

While Lee Min Ho's film, Mr. Bounty Hunter, is scheduled for screening at the festival, Jackie Chan is back with his Mr. Nice Guy and both films are expected to attract wide audiences. In fact, many of Jackie Chan's most famous action movies will be screened during the actor's Action Movie Week at the festival.

SIFF will also be holding competitions for its Asian New Talent Awards and Golden Goblet Awards. The jury for the ceremony comprises of prominent film personalities from different countries.

Some of the Chinese entries at the festival predominantly highlight the struggles of ethnic minorities in the country and the challenges they face. This theme reverberates across films like De Lan by Liu Jie and Zhang Yang's Soul on a String, which are about Tibetans.

While tickets for the film festival are selling fast, what sets the festival apart is its wide range of films and their depiction of a plethora of topics and entries are pouring in from all corners of the world.

Movies from as far as India will be screened at the festival, with the South Indian film Kayavu Variam, directed by Arun Chidambaram, being one of the highly anticipated films at the event, considering that the film has already bagged two Remi awards at 49th WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival.

With the SIFF promising a world of entertainment, offering audiences a dive into the core of drama and cinematography among other things, audiences eagerly await the six classics that Pixar plans to screen at the event in addition to the films to be showcased under the classics restoration project.

TagsLee Min Ho, Shanghai Film Festival, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Fan Bingbing, Kim Yo Jong, Liu Jie, Zhang Yang, Pixar, 400th Death Anniversary of Shakespeare, SIFF, Shanghai International Film Festival