Two new Chinese films are among 22 entries to compete for the top award - the Grand Prize of the Americas - at the 30th Montreal World Film Festival.

 

The annual festival kicked off Thursday night in Montreal, Canada's second biggest city, with the premiere of the feature film Nos amis les terriens (Our Earthmen Friends), directorial debut of French science-fiction writer Bernard Werber.

 

Altogether, the festival will screen 215 feature-length and 194 short- and medium-length movies from 76 countries around the world, before closing with Canadian filmmaker Stephane Lapointe's The Secret Life of Happy People on September 4.

 

It has 22 entries, mostly from Europe, Asia and Latin America, including the two Chinese films in the Competition Section, Ding Jun Shan (starring Yang Lixin, Liang Jingke, Tan Yuanshou, Hao Rongguang and directed by An Zhanjun) and Snow In The Wind (starring Ni Ping, Liu Wei, Miao Pu, Li Yarong and directed by Yang Yazhou).

 

The movie Ding Jun Shan, made in 1905, claims to be the first feature film made in China. However, the new Ding Jun Shan, instead of being just a re-make or a making-of features of the original 1905 movie, shows a romantic love story that sprang from the shooting of the original Ding Jun Shan.

 

Snow In The Wind tells the story of a country girl who marries a projectionist to satisfy her passion for the movies, but when her husband has an accident, she is forced to take over, and their life together is not the same anymore.

 

Fifteen short films from around the world will also compete for various awards, same as some select debuts.

 

The jury, selecting the winner of the Grand Prize and other awards includes Canadian director Marc-Andre Forcier, US actress Kathy Bates, Danish producer Vibeke Windelov, Argentine actor Federico Luppi and French screenwriter Guillaume Laurant.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2006)