Industry players agree that the organizers' plan to hit the big time in three to five years is possible. Xu Fan reports.

The rapidly expanding Chinese market for movies has drawn increasing attention from around the world. The ongoing 5th Beijing International Film Festival, one of the country's major film events, has drawn a record number of participating stars, some 300 at the opening ceremony in northern Beijing last Thursday night, and hundreds of world-renowned filmmakers at the following meetings. There is also a long list of celebrities.

The event, which runs through Thursday, had a lift-off when Hollywood action star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave warm hugs and handshakes to the screaming fans alongside the red carpet.

The festival's organizers have given themselves three to five years to make the Beijing International Film Festival rank as the top movie event in Asia, on a level with the Cannes Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, says Zhao Zhiyong, executive deputy secretary-general with the festival's committee, in a news release on last Tuesday.

French veteran filmmaker Luc Besson, who leads a seven-member panel to select the best picture and other nine awards for the festival's Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) Awards, believes that is achievable.

"So five years is very young. It's a baby, but I had never seen a baby so mature, and he has the maturity of a very old Chinese wise man," Besson says at the opening ceremony, referring to the five-year-old festival.

Marco Solari, president of the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, tells China Daily that he has been impressed with the fast development of China's movie market and the number of local talented moviemakers.

"There are now more than 3,000 film festivals in the world. Their influence is not judged by how old they are. Though the Beijing International Film Festival is still young, it has already taken its place in the world," Solari says.

The president of the earliest and largest film festival in Switzerland predicts that it is "quite possible" for China to overtake the United States as the world's top box-office market in the coming years.