The 8th Entertainment Expo Hong Kong, Asia's leading entertainment industry gathering, raised its curtains with a star-studded award ceremony of the Asian Film Awards on March 19th, xinhuanet.com reports.

The expo will run from March 19th to April 15th. It consists of several important events such as the 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), the 6th Asian Film Awards (AFA), the 16th Hong Kong International Film & TV Market convention (FILMART), the 10th Hong Kong-Asian Film Financing Forum (HKAFFF), the Digital Visual Effects Summit and the Hong Kong- Asian Music Festival (HKAMF).

Iranian film "A Separation" was the film of the night at Asian Film Awards, taking home four awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenwriter and Best Editor.

The 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with the screening of Pang Hocheung's romantic comedy "Love in the Buff" today and end with Wang Quan'an's epic blockbuster "White Deer Plain" on April 5th. A total of 283 movies from 50 countries and regions will be screened during the festival.

FILMART will last for four days along with the 10th HKAFFF at the same venue. FILMART has become an important movie platform for the international film industry. This year's event has been able to gather over 640 exhibiting companies from all over the world, second only to the Cannes which has lasted 53 years.