Some 1,000 film stars, directors and critics gathered here Saturday night to kick off the Seventh Shanghai International Film Festival, a fiesta that was put off a year due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003.

Sixteen films, nine from Europe and seven from Asia, will compete for the Jin Jue Award at the nine-day festival, which will end on June 13. Another 10 new film from Asian countries will also vie for the title of Asian New Talent Award during the festival.

The six-member judge panel for the Jin Jue Award includes committee president and noted Chinese director Ding Yinnan, Koreandirector and producer Park Chul-soo, Japanese director Kuroki Kzuo,chairman of Hong Kong Film Awards Association Limited Manfred Wong, French director Oliver Assayas and Ron Henderson, founder and artistic director of the Denver Film Society.

China phenomenon, Asia fashion and international experience will highlight the film festival's forum while an international TV festival will also be launched here Sunday.

The annual Shanghai International Film Festival, initiated in 1993, is the only of its kind in China and one of the two Category A international film festivals in Asia.

Source: Xinhua