HOUSTON, April 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. fantasy drama "William" premiered at the opening night of the 52nd WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival Friday in Houston, U.S. state of Texas.

Another opening night film was "The Star and The Sea," co-directed by Li qiankuan and Xiao Guiyun in 2009.

The film "William," directed by Tim Disney, who is the son of late Disney senior executive Roy Disney, from a script he co-wrote with J.T. Allen, is a coming-of-age fantasy-drama that follows the life of a young Neanderthal man who was cloned from ancient DNA in a groundbreaking scientific experiment, yet raised in a loving home by two brilliant scientists.

The film "The Star and The Sea" is a moving drama about the impoverished childhood of one of China's most famous composers, Xian Xinghai. His "Yellow River Cantata" was the most inspiring piece of music during the Chinese war against Japanese invasion in WWII.

As a part of the film festival, the WorldFest Focus on China brings the screenings 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 projects 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 has since evolved into the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York film festivals.

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.