Overwhelming response for movies screened at upcoming Shanghai Intl Film Festival

Tickets for the movies to be shown at the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival, one of the most renowned in the region, went on sale on June 8.

Five hundred films from around the world will be screened during the festival from June 15 to 24.

The official ticket selling platform Taopiaopiao said that 200,000 tickets were sold within the first half hour. Tickets for movies like Japanese comedy The Confidence Man JP, Chinese animated classic Uproar In Heaven and British-Austrian drama Little Joe have already been sold out.

This year's festival will feature more premieres than before – among the 500 movies, 304 of them will make their debut in China, Asia or internationally.

The festival, which was first held in 1993, has categorized the films into more than a dozen categories, including "The Belt and Road Film Week" and "Tribute to Masters and Global Village". For the first time in the festival's history, Asian films have been given its own category called "Asian Folklore and Realism". Shows under this category include Year Without a Summer from Malaysia and The Red Phallus from Bhutan.

Two other new categories are "Tribute to Pioneer Female Filmmakers" and "A Trip to the Moon".

At the festival, 40 films, documentaries and animations will compete for the Golden Goblet Awards, while directors, actors, cinematographers and playwrights in 14 nominated films will vie for the Asian New Talent Awards.