The 23rd Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF), the first large-scale cinematic event held in-person in China since the coronavirus outbreak, kicked off on Saturday.

The delayed event opened with the China Film Industry Summit Forum instead of the star-studded opening ceremony and red carpet, which had been canceled for safety reasons, as the pandemic is still rampaging in some parts of the world.

Yan Xiaoming, vice president of China Media Group (CMG), announced the opening and said at the forum that he hoped the influential festival could encourage Chinese filmmakers to tell Chinese stories well and promote the mutual learning of different cultures, especially the mutual learning of cinematic arts between different countries in the internet era.