Boxing champ Mike Tyson (center) is enjoying his moments with Donnie Yen (right) for the Ip Man 3 film. Yang Hui/GT

Hoardings hide the red carpet from the general public. Yang Hui/GT

 

The 18th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) kicked off with former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson posing with Hong Kong martial arts star Donnie Yen on the red carpet on Saturday evening. More than 400 foreign and Chinese film stars walked the red carpet greeting fans at one of the city's largest international cultural events.

Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta (center) and Hong Kong star Simon Yam (right) wave to fans. Yang Hui/GT

Press photographers battle for a good angle. Yang Hui/GT

 

Tyson and Yen were at the Shanghai festival to promote their upcoming kung fu film Ip Man 3, in which Tyson makes an appearance. The SIFF red carpet saw other big names from Hollywood including Dreamworks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg and Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike.

In recent years more local filmmakers have been seeing the festival as great chance to promote their films. At this year's festival superstar Fan Bingbing and Leon Lai are showing their Lady of the Dynasty, Gong Li and Aaron Kwok are promoting their The Monkey King 2, and the director of Tiny Times 4.0, Guo Jingming, proudly led a team of stars including Amber Kuo and Chen Xuedong.

Members of the festival jury walk the red carpet. Yang Hui/GT

 

A security guard makes sure this is a memorable moment. Yang Hui/GT

At the festival, which closes on June 21, Hong Kong director Derek Yee's I Am Somebody was the opening feature film. Acclaimed movies by Sergey Mikhalkov, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and other international filmmakers are in competition. Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev heads this year's jury which will decide who will be given the coveted Golden Goblet award.

A reporter gets a selfie stick shot as stars pose on the red carpet. Yang Hui/GT

 

A fan aims to preserve her moment next to the stars. Yang Hui/GT

This festival also sees the first Jackie Chan Action Movie Week, a new initiative promoting the achievements of global action filmmakers, honoring the actor's extraordinary career, according to Fu Wenxia, the SIFF general manager.

Global Times