The Shanghai International Film Festival’s main jury wore its heart on its collective sleeve Saturday night, giving the top Golden Goblet prize to first-timer Zhong Kaifeng’s Atlantic Rhapsody and revealing they had all been “captivated and impressed” by the director’s bold approach to moviemaking.

At the start of this year’s June 12-21 event, jury head and Hong Kong legend Tony Leung Chiu-wai had revealed that early conversations among his group — which included directors Guan Hu, Aktan Arym Kubat, Déa Kulumbegashvili and Fernanda Valadez, producer Dora Bouchoucha and actress Xin Zhilei — had found them unanimous in a desire to look for “surprises.”

And the 29-year-old Zhong certainly delivered on that with his debut, which circles around a young man (Wang Yitong) searching for a father who left his home in the far north as China turned into the 2000s, looking for the riches offered by the industrial boom down south. The film plays with memories, and with time, as the young man searches for meaning — and it left critics here divided. Not so the jury.

“Through a bold experimental approach, the director explores the absurdity of human life, while the outstanding cinematography and editing create a uniquely compelling visual experience,” the jury statement read — and Zhong appeared overwhelmed when the news was read out at the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

“Thank you very much to parents, to my wife,” began Zhong. “Since I started making movies, I haven’t had any income for many years. It has been you who kept me going. I want to say that Atlantic is not a definition, it does not provide answers, but today it seems to have given me an answer, and that answer is to persist, to love, to work hard, and then to believe.”

It was double delight for the young filmmaker and his crew on the night, as the Best Cinematography award went to Hao Jiayue for his work on the film.

This year’s main Golden Goblets featured a selection of 12 films from 15 countries and territories, and the jury went wide with its selections, covering a fittingly diverse range of genres. The Jury Grand Prix went to Colombian director Nicolás Rincón Gille’s Iluminada (Belgium), a heartfelt and ultimately life-affirming tale of a young woman facing the trials of life in the Bogota slums. Best Director went to Morocco’s Yassine El Idrissi for the darkly amusing Halima, whose star, Khadija Amari, took Best Actress for her compelling, often hilarious turn as an aging widow just trying to get by.

And there were huge cheers for local favorite Zhang Songwen on the news that he’d landed Best Actor for his turn as a puzzled (and quite often puzzling) man accused of murder in the Hong Kong-set Secret in the Box (China/Hong Kong), directed by Frankie Tam Kwong Yuen.

“The gradual build of this intensity is difficult to achieve. The actor’s accomplished performance further elevates the film’s literary depth,” the jury said.

2026 SIFF Golden Goblet winners

Best Feature Film: Atlantic Rhapsody (China), directed by Zhong Kaifeng
Jury Grand Prix: Iluminada (Belgium), directed by Nicolás Rincón Gille
Best Director: Yassine El Idrissi, Halima (Morocco)
Best Actor: Zhang Songwen, Secret in the Box (China/Hong Kong)
Best Actress: Khadija Amari, Halima (Morocco)
Best Screenplay: Reis Çelik, Night of Blindness (Turkey/Germany)
Best Cinematography: Hao Jiayue, Atlantic Rhapsody (China)
Outstanding Artistic Achievement: The Miserable Mother (Germany/France), directed by Susanne Heinrich