Danny Boyle (Nymag.com)

Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle will be the jury president of this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, according to the general manager of the festival at the mainland premiere of Slumdog Millionaire Wednesday.

Boyle said that he had never been a jury in any film festival before and he would make no criteria for this year's winning films.

"It's fantastic to be in a film festival. It's very rare in normal life going to a cinema that you know nothing about the film ... You should always approach those films with a completely open mind. And that's what I'll be doing," said Boyle at the premiere.

He said that his first film Shallow Grave was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and he felt very lifted by the positive responses of the audiences who knew nothing about the film before watching it.

Boyle's latest hit Slumdog Millionaire, which took eight awards in this year's Academy Award Ceremony, will be shown across the Chinese mainland beginning Thursday.

Weng Li, spokesman of the film's distributor China Film Group, said he was confident that Chinese movie-goers' enthusiasm will, in spite of pirate DVDs and online downloading, significantly add to the movie's already impressive global box office earnings of $200 million.

"It's a big film about people who are regarded as small people from very humble background, but they have big hearts and a big story to tell," said Boyle.

Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of 18-year-old orphan Jamal's pursuit of his childhood lover while rising from a street rat in Mumbai to become the biggest winner on a popular TV quiz show.

Boyle said he might consider making a film in China.

"Development and changes ... When you have a city that is full of people and stories like Mumbai, Beijing or Shanghai, it's just so much excitement and potential for a filmmaker. It's like a dream come true."

China might be the last stop for a six-month world tour for this film Boyle hoped that the film's release here will also be "epic."

Tang Lijun, general manager of the Shanghai International Film Festival said, Slumdog Millionaire is a perfect example for the cultural exchange between the eastern and western world ... and Danny Boyle will surely bring new prospects for this time's Shanghai International Film Festival in this June."

This year's Shanghai International Film Festival is scheduled from June 13 to 21. According to Tang, more than 600 feature films and 200 short films have already been submitted to the festival committee.

When asked to give advice to Chinese filmmakers on how to win awards, Boyle said, "Don't try... You have no control over that."

"Make the story you want to make ... with compassion," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2009)