Filmgoers get ready for a Shanghai International Film Festival screening on June 9 in Shanghai. Photo: Qi Xijia/GT

The 25th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) started on Friday. Running through June 18, the film festi-val is expected to further promote the exchanges between Chinese and foreign filmmakers, support the film industry at home and abroad and create a bright future for cinema worldwide.

Around 450 films will be screened crossed the city during the festival, with an increasing share of films having their global premiers and a more internationalized lineup, as the SIFF has been increasing its influence over 30 years of development.

The "Global Village" section will focus on Spanish films for the first time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Spain, in addition to screening new films from countries such as Germany, Italy, Japan and India.

Films from countries along the route of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will also be highlighted in this year's festival to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the BRI and the 5th anniversary of the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance initiated by SIFF.

The BRI film week will screen 20 films from China, Chile, Croatia, Hungary, Indonesia and Israel. In addition, there will be events including roundtable talks, industry workshops and city tours to strengthen ties with inter-national filmmakers.

"I always feel that the Belt and Road Film Week is a great opportunity to tighten bridges," Andres Kaiser, di-rector of Time Theorem, a Mexican film nominated for the Belt and Road Film Week Screenings and Awards, told the Global Times.

He said alliances like this offer the opportunity to create coproduction cooperation between Mexico and Chi-na and have more Latin American films screened in China.

"It will enable cultural diversity and help bring global audiences closer," he said.

The SIFF was started in 1993 and was recognized by the International Federation of Film Producers Associa-tions as the only international non-specialized competitive film festival in China.

To trace the development of the history of the SIFF, a special exhibition titled "Glory Days of SIFF" is being held at the Grand Theatre, a well-known cinema in the city.

On the electronic screen at the entrance of the exhibition, many stories of the festival are collected. Here, movie lovers can see posters from the SIFF since 1993, as well as the five editions of the trophies for the Golden Goblet Awards.

At the Grand Theatre, visitors arrived early to redeem their tickets, take photos with display boards, and pur-chase various cultural and creative products.

"I bought 10 tickets for this year's festival, which were particularly hard to get, so I asked many friends to help me," Skyler Ren, a prospective college student, told the Global Times on Friday.

"For me, it's a gathering of people who really love film. We can see a lot of movies that haven't been released domestically as well as 4K restored films," she said.