New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS): Renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur will be serving as the jury president of the first edition of International Film Festival and Awards Macao (IFFAM), being organised to bring spotlight on Asian films and storytellers.

The festival, to be held in Macau from December 8 to 13, will entail 12 Asian genre film directors in the Crossfire section of the official programme, read a statement.

Crossfire is a non-competitive section introducing the festival audience to influential genre titles from Europe and South Asia.

Kapur, who has directed critically acclaimed films like "Masoom", "Bandit Queen" and "Elizabeth", will preside over the jury.

"This is Asia's time. Over the past few years, consumerism has catapulted the Asian market into international renown, but what we are now experiencing is the renaissance of culture as inspired by the Asian communities," Kapur said.

Kapur, who brought the 'invisible man' to Bollywood screen through "Mr. India", added: "As an Indian director, I'm excited to be chairing the film festival as Indian storytelling has so much in common with Chinese forms of storytelling. Hopefully, these new forms of storytelling will bring the world to a better understanding of itself."

Through the film festival, the Macao Special Administrative Region government also aims to broaden the diversity of tourism and cultural products.

The IFFAM is organised by Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and Macau Film and Television Productions and Culture Association (MFTPA).