The 21st edition of Chennai International Film Festival kickstarted with an inaugural ceremony in the city on Thursday. The festival will witness the screenings of 126 films coming from 57 countries.

Organised by Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation in association with PVR Inox and help of the state government, the opening film was Perfect Days by Wim Wenders. The film bagged the Best Actor Award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The dignitaries who attended the ceremony include Oleg N Avdeev, Consul General, Consulate General of Russia; Patricia Thery-Hart, Director of Alliance Française of Madras, Katharina Görgen, Director of Goethe-Institut, Chennai; Dennis S. Tsai, Deputy Director of Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre, Chennai; J. Ranganathan, Honorary Consul of Myanmar in Chennai; Teraoka Mami, Cultural Head, Consulate-General of Japan in Chennai and Wanyeol Jeon, Vice Consul, Consulate General of Korea in Chennai.

In this edition of the festival, a new competitive category for world cinema has been introduced in which 12 films have been selected. CIFF will also give away three awards for world cinema, nine for films that compete under various categories of Tamil feature film competition. Besides this, 19 films will be screened under Indian Panorama section.