On Jan. 9, 2018, the New York Film Academy (NYFA) co-organizes two celebratory events as a part of the 2018 Chinese New Year festivities. Chinese Cultural Performances will be shared directly before the opening of Shanghai Film Week, with both events taking place at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in downtown New York.

Events include:
Chinese Cultural Performances
Jan. 9, 2018 at 10:30-11:45 a.m.
Safra Hall Theater, Museum of Jewish Heritage.

Shanghai Film Week Industry Panel & Film Screening: “Amazing”
January 9, 2018 at 1:30-6 p.m.
Safra Hall Theater, Museum of Jewish Heritage

Shanghai Film Week
January 10-12, 2018
New York Film Academy Theatre

The Spring Festival-themed Chinese Cultural Performances will feature presentations by a variety of Shanghai-based cultural and educational institutions, while Shanghai Film Week will feature an Industry Panel of filmmakers, critics, and educators discussing the future of internationally collaborative cinema. Shanghai Film Week will continue as the New York Film Academy will screen seven well-received Chinese films, which have won numerous accolades and awards in China, at the NYFA Theatre at its Battery Park campus throughout the week.

With the approaching Chinese Spring Festival ushering in Chinese New Year, the festival’s Chinese Cultural Performances will feature performances around the theme of “joy, harmony, sharing, praying, and auspiciousness.” The East China Normal University, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Film Art Academy, and Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine will all make presentations in a range of art forms from folk dance to martial arts.

Following the performances, Shanghai Film Week will offer screenings — and several well-received Chinese films with English subtitles as well as the Industry Panel.

The Chinese film industry began in Shanghai, and was projected to become the world’s largest and — despite hitting a plateau in growth in 2016 — may still surpass Hollywood in the coming years. Reuters has reported that 2017 will see three times 2016’s rate of growth, for a total Chinese box office take of 55 billion yuan ($8.31 U.S. billion). Six of China’s 2017 top-10 box office performers were Hollywood-made, highlighting the fact that, as ScreenDaily points out, the relationship between the Chinese and American film markets is “mutually dependent.”

With this in mind, Shanghai Film Week’s opening day Industry Panel, moderated by New York Film Academy President Michael Young, will investigate the theme of the “The Present and Future State of the U.S. and China Film Collaboration.”

Confirmed panelists include:
Film critic for the Christian Science Monitor and NYFA Instructor Peter Rainer
NYFA Chair of the Broadcast Journalism Bill Einreinhofer
NYU’s Tisch Undergraduate Film & Television Associate Professor and award winning textbook author David Irving
Film Director Sherwood Hu (胡雪桦)(“Amazing”)
Vice President of the Shanghai Film Group Corporation Xiaojun Wang (王小军)
Following the Industry Panel, the New York Film Academy will screen Shanghai Film Week panelist and acclaimed film director Sherwood Hu’s film “Amazing.” The film features NBA superstars Scottie Pippen, Mel Chude, Dwight Howard, and Carmelo Anthony.