Introduction

From June 12 to 21, during the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival, the "Step into the Screen, Light Up the Future" Shanghai Cinephile Week took place at the East Palace Theater in the Shanghai Workers' Cultural Palace. Centered around film, the event brought together a film-themed market, outdoor screenings, cinephile dialogues, cultural and creative check-ins, Movie Walk routes, and other diverse activities—connecting cinematic art, urban life, and public cultural spaces. It offered Shanghai film lovers and citizens a summer festival rich in cinematic texture, city vitality, and cultural energy.

As a key participant in the event, the Italian Innovation Center, in collaboration with the Good Italy brand, appeared at the film-themed cultural market. Through the display of Italian specialty products, cultural exchange activities, Italian wine tastings, and themed cultural sharing, the Center created a cultural experience space filled with Italian flair and lifestyle aesthetics. This allowed more visitors to approach Italy, experience Italy, and rediscover the rich possibilities of cultural exchange in everyday life, all within the cinematic atmosphere of the film festival.

Encountering Italian Lifestyle Aesthetics at the Film Market

The charm of Italy has never existed solely in museums, ancient streets, or cinematic images. It also lives in the aroma of a glass of wine, the texture of an object, a dietary habit, or a natural conversation between people.

At this film-themed market, the Italian Innovation Center brought Italian specialties into Shanghai's public cultural space. From food and beverages to lifestyle products, from brand displays to cultural introductions, our goal was to offer visitors an open, approachable, and quality-driven way to experience the aesthetic traditions, terroir memories, and life philosophies behind Italian craftsmanship.

At the market, Italian flag motifs and featured products together created a distinctive Italian atmosphere. Visitors paused at the booth between screenings to learn about Italian specialty products and to appreciate the importance Italy places on quality, craftsmanship, flavor, and everyday life. For the Italian Innovation Center, this was not merely a product showcase but a cultural practice of bringing Italian lifestyle into an urban setting.

Wine as a Medium: A Taste Journey Through Italy

In Italian culture, wine is more than a beverage—it is a cultural expression deeply tied to the land, time, the dining table, and social rituals. It carries the terroir of different regions and connects people through shared experiences.

During the event, the Italian wine tasting session, sponsored by the Italian brand Good Italy, used taste as an entry point to guide visitors into Italy's regional culture and culinary traditions. The diverse wine offerings were not just gifts from the Italian landscape but also expressions of a way of life. In each glass, Italian culture became more tangible, more accessible, and more shareable.

Through this experience, the Italian Innovation Center hoped to expand visitors' imagination of Italy beyond the film festival's ambiance: Italy is not a distant travel destination or an abstract cultural symbol, but a lifestyle that can be tasted, listened to, and shared.

Cristina, Brand Director of Good Italy, Attends the Event as Partner of the Italian Innovation Center

Following Light and Shadow: Wandering Through Italy from Cinema to Real-Life Cultural Sites

Beyond the product displays and wine tastings at the film market, the Italian Innovation Center also participated as a cultural exchange partner in the "Following Light and Shadow: Wandering Through Italy" themed sharing session. The session invited Xie Zhan, content planner of Lonely Planet's Italy guide, documentary director, and founder of Xiangyu, as the guest speaker. Using film, travel, and visual storytelling as threads, Xie Zhan guided the audience from the Italy on screen to the Italy in reality. For the Italian Innovation Center, this sharing session resonated with the market displays and wine experiences, jointly broadening the public's pathways to understanding Italy—from watching to tasting, from travel imagination to cultural perception. In the flowing light and shadow of the urban night, Italy became more vivid, closer, and more alive.

Italy has always been a key destination in world cinema, art, and travel writing. Whether the streets of ancient cities, the light along the Mediterranean coast, the flavors on the table, or the relationship between people and the land, these elements are constantly recorded and rediscovered through films, documentaries, and travel narratives. This sharing session used "light and shadow" as an entry point and "wandering" as a path, inviting audiences to rediscover Italy on a film festival night—seeing landscapes and the human stories behind them, approaching cities and the textures of life within them.

This sharing session was an important extension of the market experience. If the product displays allowed visitors to "see" Italy, and the wine tastings allowed them to "taste" Italy, then "Following Light and Shadow: Wandering Through Italy" enabled them to "understand" Italy through storytelling and imagery. It moved cultural exchange beyond mere display and observation, leading it into deeper realms of listening, imagination, and resonance.

Light and Shadow as a Bridge, the City as a Stage: Sino-Italian Culture Meets

"Step into the Screen, Light Up the Future" was not just a cinephile event but also an open practice of urban public culture. It extended the energy of the film festival from the cinema halls to plazas, markets, and community spaces, allowing more citizens to encounter, participate in, and enjoy film in their daily lives.

The participation of the Italian Innovation Center added a vibrant international cultural dimension to this cinematic celebration. We hope to use the film festival as an opportunity, the market as a platform, and products, wine, and cultural sharing as mediums to build a bridge between Chinese and Italian cultures in the heart of Shanghai.

When Shanghai Cinephile Week meets Italian culture, when the film market meets Italian flavors, cultural exchange no longer remains confined to exhibition texts or formal stage presentations. It happens naturally—in a moment of pause, a tasting, a conversation, a shared story.

Looking ahead, the Italian Innovation Center will continue to use culture as a bond and innovation as a driving force, promoting more exchanges and collaborations between China and Italy. We aim to bring Italian art, design, brands, and lifestyles to Chinese urban spaces, allowing them to flourish with renewed vitality.