After being canceled last year due to SARS, the Shanghai International Film Festival will return this year, featuring 517 films screened at 15 cinemas around town from June 5 to 13, organizers announced over the weekend.

Organizers say this year's event, Shanghai's seventh film festival, will include 107 more movies than the last festival in 2002. The films will be selected from 51 countries and regions this year, with 225 European movies expected to make the final lineup.

"The entries are as varied as imaginable," said Liang Xiaozhuang, deputy director of the Shanghai Cultural Broadcasting, Film and TV Management Bureau.

Organizers say they hope to attract 280,000 viewers during the festival. Ticket prices will range from 30 yuan (US$3.6) to 50 yuan a piece.

Chen Xiaomeng, a member of the organizing committee, said this year's festival will pay special attention to short films and documentaries, which will be screened before many of the features.

Organizers also stressed that foreign-language flicks would be subtitled this year, not dubbed as they have been in the past -- one of many criticisms the festival has faced over the years.

(eastday.com April 26, 2004)