Visual feast ahead

Operation Mekong is among the 15 nominated movies that will vie for the 10 Tiantan Awards during the upcoming Seventh Beijing International Film Festival. [Photo/China Daily]

The upcoming Seventh Beijing International Film Festival offers around 500 films. Xu Fan reports.

The Chinese capital will soon see a flood of internationally acclaimed movies and global film talent thanks to the upcoming Seventh Beijing International Film Festival from April 16 to 23.

The organizers recently released a shortlist of 15 movies, which will vie for the 10 Tiantan Awards on offer.

Hu Dong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, says that nearly 100 scholars, industry veterans and movie critics shortlisted the nominees after five rounds of selection.

He says the 15 nominated movies were selected from 424 films-all released after Jan 1, 2016 - from 59 countries and regions.

For local movie buffs, the two nominated Chinese-language movies are Operation Mekong, inspired by China's hunt for a Myanmar drug ring that killed 13 Chinese sailors in 2011, and Mr No Problem, a satire based on Chinese literary giant Lao She's 1943 namesake novel.

Operation Mekong has received high scores on major review sites and tasted commercial success, too, topping last year's National Day holiday box-office charts.