The 25th Beijing College Student Film Festival kicked off on Saturday in Beijing, a day before the opening ceremony of the 8th Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF).

Hosted by institutions including Beijing Normal University's School Of Art And Communication, the festival, which runs until May 6, is a national-level film event focusing on promoting film culture among Chinese college students.

The opening ceremony also unveiled the 34 films that will be screened in the festival's competition section this year. Major titles in this section include Angels Wear White and Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield.

Around 300 Chinese films and international co-productions as well as over 4,000 original film productions created by students from some 500 colleges across the country were submitted for selection this year.

The opening film was black comedy film The Lost Land, directed by Chinese actor and director Xu Xiaoli. The film follows the involvement of a North China village in the New Life Movement, a government-led civic movement to promote cultural reform in the 1930s.