The 28th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF, June 12-21) has announced its main competition lineup for the Golden Goblet Awards, including features from Reis Çelik, Nicolás Rincón Gille and Susanne Heinrich.
The main competition section comprises 12 films, which are all world premieres – a first in the history of the Golden Goblet Awards.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The selection includes cross-country collaborations such as Çelik’s Turkey-Germany co-production Night Of Blindness and Heinrich’s Germany-France co-production The Miserable Mother, along with Alan Minas’s Luiza’s Desert from Brazil and the UK.
As with previous editions, the main competition features a trio of Chinese-language titles: Zhong Kaifeng’s Atlantic Rhapsody, Liu Xiaoyang’s The Great Skull (both from mainland China), and Hong Kong director Frankie Tam Kwong Yuen’s Secret In The Box. The only other Asian title is Indonesian director Ismail Basbeth’s My Own Last Supper.
This year, SIFF received approximately 4,100 submissions from 125 countries and regions, setting a new record. It also expanded its reach with first-time submissions from Ghana and Mozambique. Some 82% of the submissions carry world or international premiere status.
The Golden Goblet Awards continue to be the centrepiece of SIFF’s selection. Some 49 diverse titles across five categories are vying for various prizes. In addition to the main competition, there are 12 titles from Asian New Talent, five apiece from documentary and animation, and 10 live-action and five animated short films. All are part of the 420 local and international films that will be presented at 1,500 screenings across Shanghai.
All 12 titles from the Asian New Talent competition for rising directors are world premieres, except for the Asia premiere of Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples To Heaven, following its debut in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
As previously announced, Keane Wong’s directing feature debut Afterpiece, produced by Derek Yee, is set to open the festival.
Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai will preside over the jury of the main competition while Singapore director Anthony Chen, US filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, and UK animator and director Will Becher will chair the Asian New Talent, documentary and animation competition sections respectively.
SIFF is guided by the China Film Administration and hosted by China Media Group (CMG) and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.
SIFF Golden Goblet Awards 2026 nominations
Main Competition
Atlantic Rhapsody (China)
Dir. Zhong Kaifeng
Halima (Morocco)
Dir. Yassine El Idrissi
Iluminada (Belgium)
Dir. Nicolás Rincón Gille
Luiza’s Desert (Brazil, UK)
Dir. Alan Minas
My Own Last Supper (Indonesia)
Dir. Ismail Basbeth
Night Of Blindness (Turkey, Germany)
Dir. Reis Çelik
Sea Sons (Russia)
Dir. Daniil Merkulov
Secret In The Box (China, Hong Kong)
Dir. Frankie Tam Kwong Yuen
Superbuhei (Germany)
Dir. Josef Brandl
The Great Skull (China)
Dir. Liu Xiaoyang
The Miserable Mother (Germany, France)
Dir. Susanne Heinrich
The Parking Spot (Canada)
Dir. Louis Godbout
Asian New Talent
9 Temples To Heaven (Thailand)
Dir. Sompot Chidgasornpongse
About The Mother (Turkey)
Dir. Büşra Bülbül
Boomah (Jordan, Saudi Arabia)
Dir. Zaid Abu Hamdan
Cassowary (China)
Dir. Zhang Hanyi
Dog Day Evening (China, Hong Kong)
Dir. Mak Tin Shu
Her First Taste (China)
Dir. Gong Yiwen
Hunter’s Moon (India, Germany)
Dir. Ridham Janve
No Good In Sight: A Story (Kazakhstan)
Dir. Alibi Mukushev
No Hard Feelings (China)
Dir. Liu Shichuan
Skylark (Kyrgyzstan)
Dir. Narghiza Dotieva
Strangers In The Mountain (China)
Dir. Wan Bo
The Blind Girl And An Elephant (Bangladesh, Germany)
Dir. Ishtiyak Ahmad Zihad
Documentary
Benigno (Spain)
Dir. David Baute
Notes Unheard (China)
Dir. Gu Yun
Ruins (North Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia)
Dir. Elena Chemerska
The Tiger Of The East (Chile)
Dir. Jorge Acevedo
Wheels Of Forgotten Dreams (Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia)
Dirs. Milos Ljubomirovic, Danilo Lazovic
Animation
Amadeo And The Hypothetical New World (Brazil)
Dirs. Brenda Lígia, Edu Felistoque
Dante (Sweden, Norway, Denmark)
Dir. Linda Hambäck
Garuda: Dare To Dream (Indonesia)
Dir. Ronny Gani
Lucy Lost (France)
Dir. Olivier Clert
Winnipeg, Seeds Of Hope (Spain, Chile, Argentina)
Dirs. Elio Guiroga, Beñat Beitia
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