Intl film festival kicks off in China's Shanxi

TAIYUAN -- The fifth Pingyao International Film Festival opened on Tuesday in the 2,700-year-old city of Pingyao, North China's Shanxi province.

A total of 46 movies from over 30 countries or regions will be shown at the festival. Almost a third of them will have their world premieres in Pingyao, which is a UNESCO world cultural heritage site.

The movies to be screened during the festival include Cannes Award-winning Prayers for the Stolen, Belgian director Laura Wandel's Playground and renowned Chinese filmmaker Xie Fei's Song of Tibet.

The audience will have the opportunity to participate in producing artificial-intelligence films, selecting a film genre and storyline then allowing the algorithm to act as the screenwriter and editor, producing movies of any length.

Chinese director Tsui Hark will narrate the works of Alfred Hitchcock in a dialogue activity to be held during the film exhibition.

Pingyao International Film Festival focuses on discovering and promoting outstanding works by young directors from developing countries, with the aim of strengthening the exchanges between filmmakers from various countries, according to the organizer.