HOUSTON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese directors Li Qiankuan and Xiao Guiyun, both are honorary life chairman of WorldFest-Houston, said on Friday that the film festival acts as a bridge to different arts and cultures.

The 52nd WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival will kick off Friday evening with grand opening ceremony in Houston, U.S. state of Texas.

Li and Xiao told Xinhua that diversity of arts and cultures is one of the highlights for the WorldFest-Houston. "Cultural activities are very helpful in improving understanding between China and the United States."

Li, also honorary chairman of the China Film Association, and Xiao have co-directed some significant epics and historical dramas on modern Chinese history in the past 50 years.

As a part of the film festival, the 5th WorldFest Focus on China will bring premieres of 15 Chinese feature films along with several Chinese short subjects, providing a window of the emerging Chinese film production for American audiences.

During the festival, 10 major categories of competition, including over 60 new independent feature films and 108 award-winning shorts as well as documentaries and student project from around the globe, will be screened.

WorldFest was founded over 52 years ago as Cinema Arts, an International Film Society in August 1961. It evolved into a competitive international film festival in April 1968, becoming the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York.

As one of the oldest independent film & video festivals in the world, WorldFest has discovered a long list of famous persons such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Ang Lee.

WorldFest received over 4,500 category entries from 74 nations and regions across the world for its 2018 edition of festival.