The event kicked off on Saturday and will run until Dec. 19.
With its theme "Bridging Cultures, Meeting Minds," however, the DIFF does not highlight the usual Hollywood-style glamour movies, but roles out the red carpet to mostly young directors, giving them a chance to leave an impression to a multinational audience and further develop their careers.
Among the gala screenings, the Chinese-Taiwanese martial-art movie "Reign of Assassins" will be shown, produced by Hong-Kong- based John Woo and Chao-Bin Su from Taipei.
In the Asia-Africa film block, another Chinese movie will bring the Far East closer to the Middle East: "The Piano in a Factory" was directed by Meng Zhang, who graduated at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. As a director of the Changchun Film Studio, he made his directorial debut with "Lucky Dog" in 2007.