THE 18th Shanghai Television Festival will raise its curtain tonight at Shanghai Culture Square with a grand ceremony featuring performances of China's Got Talent winners and famous Taiwanese singer Fei Yu-ching.
This year's TV festival, which runs until Friday, will include the Magnolia Awards for international television productions, international film and TV market, Asian animation pitch and catch, and Magnolia TV forum.
"More than 1,600 of the latest TV productions will vie for different categories of the Magnolia Awards, a 25 percent increase in the number of entries from last year," said Tang Lijun, an official with the festival's organizing committee. "Most of the productions are of high artistry and have taken into account the taste of the young TV audience."
Officials revealed yesterday that the British drama "Downton Abbey" will win the golden prize for overseas TV series. For the first time the Magnolia Awards also launches a special "artistic contribution" award for creative domestic TV drama.
The international film and TV market has about 400 major TV production companies from more than 30 countries and regions, such as China Central Television, Warner Bros Television and Disney Channel.
Every night of the festival, local TV fans will be presented acclaimed TV films, documentaries and animated series on local channels. The productions to air include British TV series "Sherlock," Japanese TV film "Father of the Bride" and BBC's nature series "Frozen Planet."