People watch a movie during a screening on a rooftop of a shopping mall on the opening night of the 10th Beijing International Film Festival that has been scaled down and largely moved online due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in B
Beijing: The 10th Beijing International Film Festival on Saturday kicked off in the Chinese capital, Beijing and will conclude on Aug 29.
More than 300 Chinese and overseas films will be screened at the festival, according to Zhang Xiaoguang, deputy director of the China Film Art Research Center.
Zhang said a total of 250 films, including 50 new ones, will be screened online, and 24 classic films will be screened in open-air theaters, according to China's (Xinhua) News Agency.
"There are more Chinese stories that we need to tell the world," Director Zhang Yimou said at the opening ceremony, calling on the film sector to carry on despite the immense hardship brought by the pandemic.
"We must continue our efforts to create new stories that touch the audience and give them power," he said.
The festival was originally scheduled for April but postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
