The 29th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) was kicked off on Tuesday at the Hong Kong Cultural Center.
  
A number of film makers and artists such as Jacky Chan and Daniel Ng participated in the opening ceremony and Secretary for Home Affairs of Hong Kong Patrick Ho expressed his hope that the festival would experience a consummation.
   
Hosted by the HKIFF Society, this year's festival features 240 films from 41 different countries and regions. A total of 338 shows are scheduled during the 16-day film festival.
   
Opening films of the festival were Peacock, The Hidden Blade and House of Fury, which are productions from the Chinese Mainland, Japan and Hong Kong respectively.
   
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Chinese cinema, the festival is presenting a series of programs including the digitally restored version of Center Stage and highly stylized biographical film Ruan-Lingyu, starred by Maggie Cheung, as highlights of the festival.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2005)