The Shanghai International Film & TV Market is launching a new dual-venue format at the Shanghai Exhibition Center this year, with separate spaces for international company pavilions and a dedicated arena pairing Chinese content sellers with buyers from major markets including the U.K., France, Brazil, and Canada.

The international pavilion brings together institutions from Thailand, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Brazil, and Spain, with programming centered on foreign production showcases and location promotion for Europe and the Middle East. The Chinese promotion venue will host matchmaking sessions organized by category – films, drama series, and microdramas – alongside international industry salons and cultural tourism route promotions.

Chen Guo, managing director of Shanghai International Film & TV Events Center, says the TV forum programming this year will center on facilitating global content deals. “This themed forum will bring together decision-makers from major global platforms for in-depth dialogues on the latest market trends, core purchasing needs, and diverse collaboration opportunities,” she tells Variety. “Together, they will explore new paths and possibilities for Chinese stories, including microdramas, to ‘go global.'”

The market is also introducing an official awards category for microdramas this year, recognizing outstanding short-form productions across four judging dimensions: value orientation, narrative and creativity, production and audiovisual quality, and distribution and reputation. Chen says the honors are designed to address uneven production quality across the sector. “We aim to discover and commend outstanding microdramas that possess ideological depth, artistic warmth, and contemporary features,” she says. “The introduction of this honor aims to leverage the exemplary and guiding role of the Magnolia Awards to steer the industry toward premium production.”

The broader market is entering what Chen describes as a rebound cycle following a period of inventory consolidation, with AI tools drawing in younger creators and raising the bar on storytelling. “The audience never stops pursuing high-quality content,” she says. “Although the industry has evolved rapidly over recent years, the changes have primarily occurred in the forms of expression: between horizontal and vertical screens, long or short content, traditional TV broadcasting versus online streaming, all among others.”

Last year, overseas guests accounted for 12% of total market attendees, with creative personnel representing the largest professional category at 35.54%. Chen says that the market’s core aim this year goes beyond one-off transactions. “We aim not only to facilitate single-project transactions but also to encourage Chinese and foreign institutions to sign annual strategic partnerships, long-term slate purchasing deals, and joint-development framework agreements,” she says.

The Shanghai International Film & TV Market runs contiguously with the Shanghai International Film Festival.