THE 6th Beijing International Film Festival kicked off in Beijing on Saturday with a starry attendance and hundreds of movies to be screened.

    Celebrities including Oscar winners Natalie Portman and Christoph Waltz, American film directors Anthony and Joe Russo, and Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat attended the opening ceremony.

    A total of 2,329 films from 105 countries and regions have applied for screening during this year’s festival.

    Fifteen movies have been accepted for the main competition and a chance at the Tiantan Award, which offers honors in 10 categories, including best feature film, best director, best actor, best actress and best music.

    The event, which will run until April 23, will also be participated by more than 200 film-related companies and institutions that will display their products and technologies.

    China’s film market is the world’s second-largest with 44 billion yuan (US$6.8 billion) in box-office sales in 2015. The festival last year inked deals worth 13.8 billion yuan.

    (Xinhua)