#Siff

A first-time director takes the Golden Goblet, AI dominates every conversation and a 1961 classic leaves a packed house breathless.

In Shanghai to head the Golden Goblet jury, the Hong Kong icon explains AI's threat to creativity, how to keep young audiences in movie theaters, and his late-career swerve into European arthouse cinema.

As the line between film festival and tech expo continues to blur in China, SIFF ran filmmaking labs for work created by artificial intelligence, iPhone or virtual reality.

Major awards go to first-time filmmakers, reflecting a commitment to finding Asia's rising stars, while industry initiatives continue to help young directors get films made.

The heads of the Berlin, Toronto and Hong Kong festivals, alongside former Oscars president Janet Yang and actress Joan Chen, offered emerging talent some encouragement — and tough love.

"Talent development has become one of our defining strengths," says SIFF managing director Chen Guo, as first-time director Keane T.K. Wong's 'Afterpiece' opens the event.

The 52nd annual festival, though smaller in scale than previous years, still has everything from up-to-the-minute documentaries to restored classics.

Critics on Twitter called an Indian group's ceremony "cringe" and "embarrassing."