Busan (South Korea), Oct 5 (IANS): The 10-day Busan International Film Festival that kicked off in style with a glamorous red carpet ceremony in South Korea's southern port city of Busan will feature 304 movies from 75 countries.

This is the 17th edition of the film festival, Xinhua reported.

Many international stars were seen at the opening ceremony Thursday at one of the largest cinematic events in Asia.

Chinese actresses Cecelia Cheung and Tang Wei made an appearance.

The star-studded cast of Hong Kong police thriller "Cold War", including Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Ka-fai, also walked the red carpet.

Co-directed by Longman Leung and Sunny Luk, the action-packed film revolves around two ambitious police officer of Hong Kong, who fight for control over a high stake hostage situation.

"Cold War" highlights the power struggle, corruption and inner workings of Hong Kong's police.

Leung said he and Luk wanted to impress the audiences with a new approach.

"After much contemplation about how to deliver new feelings to audiences, we've come up with this way of depicting conflicts within the police force," Leung said.

While "Cold War" is out of competition, there are 10 films from eight countries vying for top honours at the festival.

The competition section offer two prizes of $30,000.

This year's line-up includes "Comrade Kim Goes Flying", a romantic comedy shot in North Korea, and six classic Afghan movies saved from the Taliban by the Afghanistan National Film Archive.

The event will close with the world premiere of "Television", a satirical drama directed by Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki.