Heather Graham joins Shanghai jury: Aaron Eckhart, Famke Janssen to attend fest

BEIJING -- Thesps Heather Graham and Li Bingbing, producer Terence Chang and helmers Zhang Yang, Bela Tarr and Rakhshan Bani-Etemad will join jury prexy Jean-Jacques Annaud to judge the Golden Goblet prize at the Shanghai Film Festival. The fest will feature around 300 Chinese and foreign films at 28 cinemas across the city during the 15th edition of the fest, which runs Jun. 16 to 24. Shanghai will show movies by Annaud in the Tribute to Masters section. The fest has secured a host of big names to attend the event, a sign of its growing importance as a regional fest. Among the more than 400 biz figures due to walk the red carpet at the Shanghai Grand Theater on Jun. 16 will be Hollywood thesps Aaron Eckhart and Famke Janssen. Other actors attending will be Japan's Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Korea's Kwon Sang-woo, Hong Kong stars Tony Leung and Chow Yun-fat, and Mainland topliner Zhang Ziyi. The organizers said 417 producers and buyers have registered to attend the market from June 18 thru 20. In the market section, the fest will combine the China Film Pitch and Catch, and Co-production Pitch and Catch sessions and rename them SIFF Project Market. Eight Chinese projects and 25 Chinese-foreign co-production projects will be presented. The fest's Golden Goblet Award competition lineup includes two Russian pics, Karen Shakhnazarov's "White Tiger" and Pavel Lungin's "The Conductor," and "Chrysalis" from Spain's Paula Ortiz. The event has received 1,643 entries from 106 countries and regions competing in various categories. Iranian filmmaker Amir Naderi will serve as jury chairman of Asian New Talent Award, which includes two pics from China, Peng Lei's "Follow Follow" and He Wenchao's "Sweet Eighteen."