SHANGHAI — As the biggest film festival in Asia and China‘s only competitive feature film festival, SIFF returned to its physical format after being canceled, postponed or hosted virtually in the course of the three-year COVID-19 crisis.

This 12 months the twenty fifth SIFF returned in full swing with a lineup of screenings, film culture roundtables and the distinguished Golden Goblet Award, which is able to reveal its winners on Saturday.

Celebrities including Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun Fat, Shu Qi, Jason Statham and Brian Cox walked the red carpet before their movies made their China debut in the course of the festival.

Throughout the past few years, the film industry took a brutal hit from the pandemic as cinema closures, film production delays, and a funding freeze forged a dark outlook.

Post-reopening, as the federal government looks to revive consumption and promote local titles, the industry is predicted to get better to 70 percent of 2019 levels, in response to estimates from local ticketing platforms.

Motion-packed thrillers or sci-fi titles will likely drive box office sales this summer. Among the many tentpole movies to be released in China are “The Meg 2: The Trench,” starring Jason Statham and Wu Jing, sci-fi fantasy drama “Creations of the Gods,” starring the half-Chinese, half-American pop icon Fei Xiang, and “Flowers From the Ashes,” a period rom-com directed by “Farewell My Concubine” creator Chen Kaige.

To fete the industry’s grand return, Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Dior all rolled out the red carpet to have a good time this 12 months’s biggest stars.

As SIFF’s official partner since 2021, Piaget hosted the “Extraordinary Night Party” by the Bund, where it honored local filmmakers, masters and celebrities, including Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Chinese actresses Shengyi Huang, American actor Andy Friend and Chinese director Hou Yong.

“The filmmaking industry is unquestionably a technique to express craftsmanship and to specific emotions, and we’re all about emotions at Piaget,” said Sonia Carpentier, managing director of Piaget China.

As for the party, it was a celebration of the brand’s “extravagance, elegance,” in addition to “the crazy parties and the jet-set lifestyle,” Carpentier said.

In collaboration with SIFF, Piaget also launched the inaugural “SIFF Young” Program, which incorporates master classes on the esteemed Shanghai Theatre Academy and the “To-The-Extraordinary” Scholarship, geared toward supporting young film students at local universities.

“We wish to assist young filmmakers go further of their dreams and lives,” Carpentier said.

At the opposite end of the Bund, Jaeger-LeCoultre, an official SIFF partner for greater than 10 years, launched the newest installment of its “Made from Makers” program.

Against an enormous screen of falling water, which echoed the natural great thing about the Swiss watchmaker’s home turf at Vallée de Joux in Switzerland, British musician Tokio Myers’ original rating for “The Reverso Musical Show” made its global debut at Fosun Foundation.

On Sunday, Jaeger-LeCoultre hosted a screening of the 4K restored version of the classic Chinese film “Early Spring.” Since launching the conservation project with SIFF 12 years ago, the film is the sixteenth Chinese film to be restored under this system.

“That is something to be admired and revered,” said Chinese actress and Jaeger-LeCoultre global brand ambassador Ni Ni on the premiere. “It brings the film back to its original temperature and makes it more authentic.”

To focus on female filmmakers, Dior cohosted the panel “Motion! Her Time — Life Without Limits” with SIFF, where director Ho-Sun Chan, actress Zhang Ziyi, actress and film producer Vivian Junmei Wu-Costo discussed the creative process and feminine representation in movies.

Chan revealed in the course of the talk that he’s about to begin working with Zhang on a real crime thriller titled “Murder of the Husband,” set in ’40s Shanghai.

Because the festival’s official partner and designated beauty brand, Dior also unveiled the exhibition “Dior In Red” on the storied Victory Cinema.

The exhibition, which highlights the Rouge Dior collection and the brand’s history with the film industry, features Dior’s red-themed gowns and accessories throughout the brand’s history. One other room was dedicated to a virtual try-on experience for the lipstick collection.