Beijing rolls out carpet for annual film festival

Actress Zhang Ziyi walks the red carpet at the fourth Beijing International Film Festival on Wednesday. Jiang Dong / China Daily

4th Beijing Int'l Film Festival kicks off

Chinese mainland stars who have won at the HKFA

Hollywood's ties with the second-largest film market in the world were on full display on Wednesday, as the fourth annual Beijing International Film Festival kicked off in the capital.

Appearing on the red carpet were Alfonso Cuaron, director of Academy-Award-winning film Gravity, US director Oliver Stone, La Peikang, new head of China Film Group, and French director Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Cuaron's Gravity was one of the highest grossing foreign films in China in 2013, taking in 69 million yuan ($11.1 million). Annaud is making a co-produced film based on Chinese writer Jiang Rong's best-seller Wolf Totem.

Domestic filmmakers and stars, including John Woo, Zhang Ziyi and Fan Bingbing, also attended the festival.

Leading industry figures such as Frederick Huntsberry, CEO of Paramount Pictures, Christopher Dodd, president of the Motion Picture Association of America and Peter Del Vecho, producer of the hit Disney animation Frozen, will speak at forums during the eight-day event on topics including co-production and film technology.

The MPAA will host a workshop between Chinese filmmakers and Hollywood industry leaders from Friday to Saturday. Past attendees, such as Xue Xiaolu and Wu Ershan, have become pillars of the industry.

A program for IMAX films will feature screenings of the Transformers movies, The Avengers and Gravity in 3D.