TOKYO, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The 20th Tokyo International Film Festival curtained up Saturday afternoon in Tokyo, with more than 300 movies around the world waiting to be shown in the following eight days.

The opening ceremony was held late in the afternoon at central Tokyo's avant-garde Roppongi Hills, where about 300 actors, directors and executives walked through the red carpet to greet hundreds of fans.

While Japanese stars took up nearly half of the positions in the line as usual, famous Chinese actress such as Fan Bingbing and Miao Pu also won ardent cheers and applause from spectators.

Movies from China, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East countries constitute the mainstream of the festival. "Phoenix," a film of Chinese and Japanese cooperative production, was designated to be shown at the opening ceremony.

A total of 15 films are candidates for the main Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix and other awards under such themes as "Winds of Asia" and "Tokyo in Focus."

Results of the competition will be announced on the closing day of the festival by the jury, which was headed by U.S. film producer Alan Ladd Jr.

To celebrate the 35 anniversary of the normalization of ties between Japan and China and the 10 anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China, the organizer arranged China Film Week and Hong Kong Film Week respectively.