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At the opening ceremony in the Chinese capital, action movie
star Arnold Schwarzenegger, scheduled to make a speech, walked
the red carpet and greeted fans to loud cheers.
The week-long event received a boost earlier this year when
organizers appointed Marco Mueller, who previously headed the
Venice and Rome Film Festivals, as chief adviser.
A fluent Mandarin speaker, Mueller also produced the Academy
Award-winning Bosnian film "No Man's Land", which won the "Best
Foreign Language Film" category at the 2002 Oscars.
French director Luc Besson will lead a jury that also includes
Russian director Fedor Bondarchuk, Hong Kong director Peter Chan
and U.S. screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen.
"Over the past few years (Besson) has had quite a few
cooperations with the Chinese film industry and he has a good
understanding of the Chinese film market, Chinese films, Chinese
audiences," festival organizer Zhao Zhiyong said.
"So that's why when we sent him the invitation he happily
accepted."
China saw its box office revenues grow 34 percent last year to
$4.8 billion, according to the Motion Picture Association of
America, cementing its position as the second biggest box office
territory after the United States and Canada.
Asked what needed to be done for Chinese films to make it big
abroad, Zhao said: "We need to increase and push for more
interactions between Chinese films, Chinese productions, and
foreign films.
"I think this is a huge task that our Chinese films face and is
a responsibility that we should live up to."
Fifteen films will compete for the festival's Tiantian Awards
and the winners will be announced next week.
(Reporting by Natalie Thomas in Beijing; Writing by Marie-Louise
Gumuchian in London; Editing by Catherine Evans)
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