The promise heading into this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival was a focus on emerging talent and the rising generation of filmmakers across China and the region. On the evidence so far, the festival is staying true to its word — and it has enlisted a collection of global industry heavyweights to deliver both inspiration and a healthy dose of reality.

On the inspiration front: festival directors Tricia Tuttle (Berlin), Cameron Bailey (Toronto) and Albert Lee (Hong Kong) joined SIFF’s own Chen Guo and former Academy president Janet Yang for a series of rallying cries aimed as much at the global industry as at the young filmmakers gathered in Shanghai this week.

Tuttle pointed to local hero Diao Yinan as a prime example of what international festivals can do for emerging talent. The Chinese filmmaker’s early work appeared at SIFF before he took his gritty thriller Black Coal, Thin Ice to Berlin in 2014 and walked away with the Golden Bear. What programmers everywhere are looking for, she said, hasn’t changed.

“We want to be touched; we want to discover something non-obvious — a voice in the plot,” said Tuttle. “I think the most exciting thing is when we see something new, when a creator gives us a new perspective.”

Yang, now a producer, urged festivals and fellow filmmakers to keep searching beyond the obvious.

“When we identify emerging talent, we have to look beyond the obvious signs of success,” she said. “We are trying to build pathways for the next generation of filmmakers and recognize their potential early. Art teaches the next generation how to observe, imagine and express. In a world shaped by technology and speed, those abilities are more important than ever. The next great filmmaker may come from the path our industry has not yet discovered.”

SIFF has an array of initiatives aimed at doing exactly that — among them the SIFF ING Young Filmmakers Program, the SIFF NEXT Film Project Training Camp and the SIFF YOUNG × Shanghai Young Filmmakers Support Program — and can point to 78 films that have gone on to cinematic release after passing through its hands.

Providing the reality check was Chinese star Joan Chen, who could be found in a festival sidebar grilling filmmakers selected for SIFF’s New Talent Project. When she challenged debut director Kio Qiu — whose Vestiges explores life and love in third-century China — to explain how an ancient story told in an artistic style could draw a contemporary audience into cinemas, he was ready.

“It will be like a work of art — like you go to look at a masterpiece in a gallery, you go to see film art in a cinema,” he said.

The galvanizing effect of simply having your work recognized was clear in the reaction of director Xu Lei (Summer Detective) to being named among SIFF’s Young Filmmakers for 2026. With the FIFA World Cup playing out simultaneously in North America, he reached for a fitting analogy.

“I now know exactly how Neymar felt when he made the World Cup squad at the very last minute,” he said. “This selection is both supportive and encouraging. I will take this opportunity to keep focusing on filmmaking and creative work.”