Golden Rooster film festival opens in Lanzhou

Golden Rooster film festival opens in Lanzhou

The Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers film festival, the most official film festival in China, got underway in Lanzhou, Gansu province, on Wednesday. This year, more than 100 films are competing for 18 awards.

The 23rd Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers film festival opens with the show "Dreaming in Dunhuang", which showcases the distinctive local culture of Gansu.

More than 100 films will be screened during the 4-day event. And competing for best picture are Hong Kong director Wang Kar-wai's "The Grand Master", Peter Chan's "American dreams in China", Zhao Wei's "So Young" and Xue Xiaolu's "Finding Mr. Right".

Nominations for best actor are Kungfu star Jackie Chan, Nick Cheung, Wu Xiubo and Xu Zheng. Zhang Ziyi, Tang Wei, Yu Nan and Yang Zishan are nominated for best actress.

The festival will also award prizes for documentaries, animations and TV movies.

The festival includes the Golden Rooster Award, which focuses on expertise, and the Hundred Flowers Award, which is decided by popular vote. The two awards are each presented every alternate year.

The coveted Hundred Flowers award will be handed out on Saturday.