Visual feast ahead

House of Others are among the 15 nominated movies that will vie for the 10 Tiantan Awards during the upcoming Seventh Beijing International Film Festival. [Photo/China Daily]

"Beijing is the cultural hub of the country and probably has the largest number of art-house movie fans. So we invited film talent, rather than stars, to be on the jury," she says.

Li also says that Operation Mekong and Mr No Problem were chosen to give the world a glimpse of Chinese film's vitality.

The festival will also provide a visual treat for ordinary moviegoers. Around 500 movies from more than 100 countries and regions will be screened in 30 cinemas and colleges in Beijing during the festival. Around half of the movies are from abroad.

A series of high-profile forums and activities during the event will see many global insiders share their experiences.

The forums cover a wide range of topics - international coproductions, cutting-edge technologies, overseas distribution and film development under China's Belt and Road Initiative.

A special section on documentaries will also be part of the festival. More than 220 domestic and foreign documentaries, including some award-winning titles from the Oscars, the Berlin International Film Festival and Sun-dance Film Festival, will form part of the section.

French director Jacques Perrin, who's recently known for the documentary Seasons he co-directed with Jacques Cluzaud, will be the section's honorary president.

Among the more celebrated foreign documentaries are Oscar nominee The Ivory Games and Casting Jon Benet, which is about the death of 6-year-old American beauty queen Jon Benet Ramsey.

Some of the Chinese documentaries are Xinjiang, The Keriya, Master in Forbidden City, A Century with Cars and Born to Die.