ACADEMY Award-winning director Tom Hooper headed the guest list of the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival that opened Saturday and will run nine days.

Hooper, whose “Les Miserables” and “The King’s Speech” were both released in China, has joined French critic Michel Ciment, German director Chris Kraus and Chinese director Ning Hao to decide the winners of the 12 Golden Goblet Awards.

“A jury led by an internationally acclaimed filmmaker such as Mr. Hooper will make the awards more authentic,” said Ren Zhonglun, vice president of the festival.

Two Chinese films are nominated: Hong Kong director Dante Lam’s “Unbeatable” and mainland director Hu Xuehua’s “Amazing,” with cameo appearances by NBA players Scottie Pippen and Dwight Howard.

The festival opened on the night of June 15 at Shanghai Cultural Square. About 400 celebrities, including Oliver Stone, Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau, took to the red carpet.

The forums, a praised section of the festival for years, kicked off on the following day.

In the “Chinese Capital’s Long March to Hollywood” forum on Monday, panelists addressed a trend that sees more investment in Hollywood from Chinese enterprises.

“After 20 years of Hollywood blockbusters dominating the Chinese market, the Chinese film industry is ready to step up,” said Ben Ji, managing director of Reach Glory Media Group and host of the discussion.

The screenings this year feature great diversity. A special session hosted by IMAX showed the 1986 movie “Top Gun,” starring a 24-year-old Tom Cruise. In a three-day run after June 16 in three theaters, Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi,” Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” and two installments of the Transformers series were also screened.(SD-Agencies)