HOUSTON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The 51st edition of WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival kicked off here Friday.

The suspense and action movie Nine to Nirvana starring Li Zhixue, a well-known young Chinese actress, was screened as the opening film for the festival.

Scheduled for April 20-29, the film festival will showcase 50 new independent feature films and 108 award-winning short films from over 70 countries and regions around the globe.

As part of the festival, the fourth edition of WorldFest Focus on China will feature some 20 feature films from China, providing the audience with a taste of Chinese movies, which have stepped into global spotlight over the past years.

WorldFest-Houston Chairman Hunter Todd told Xinhua that while most film festivals around the world will show one or two Chinese movies, "we are the first film festival that's made an ongoing effort to establish a major survey of Chinese films. China is more represented in our festival than any others."

The Houston International Film Festival has 10 categories in total, including Best Film, Documentary, TV Commercials, Music TV, Original Screenplay, Short Film and others. An award party will be held on April 28.