The 24th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) celebrated its grand opening on Friday night with the premiere of 1921, a new movie about the founding of the Communist Party of China.

The festival, which will run until June 20, will highlight the centennial celebration for the founding of the CPC.

At the opening ceremony in Shanghai Grand Theatre, Huang Jianxin, director of 1921 and chairman of the jury panel for the Golden Goblet Award at the SIFF this year, said he made the movie to "tell the story about the passionate youth of China in 1921, to the young audiences of 2021".

Huang has participated in the SIFF since its establishment in 1993. "Through the years I've been happy and surprised to see the festival playing a very important role in communication between different cultures," Huang said.

He was especially impressed with SIFF's efforts to promote young emerging filmmakers, praising the festival as one of the first in China to set up a project to help young filmmakers get funding.

This year a record-high 4,443 movies signed up to participate in the SIFF despite the global pandemic.

Thirteen films will compete for the Golden Goblet main competition, five animation films, and five documentaries will fight for the awards for best animation and documentary films, respectively.

Another 15 films will compete in the best short movies' category.

Altogether 12 heavyweight prizes, such as best movie, grand jury award, best director award and, will be announced on the evening of June 19.

More than 400 films will be screened during the festival, among which 73 will have their world premiere.

A special showcase of 12 Chinese films will be presented, featuring stories of Chinese revolution, national heroes and patriotic theme.