The 29th Cairo International Film Festival, due to start at the end of this month, will showcase a large number of Chinese films, the Al Ahram English Weekly reported Thursday.

The festival will showcase 25 films from China, including Zhang Yimou's The House of Flying Daggers (2005), which will open the festival, according to the report.

The event's organizers also selected China as this year's guest of honor out of the belief that it "is an emerging world power not only economically and politically but also culturally," Sherif el- Shoubashi, festival president and first undersecretary at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, was quoted as saying.

Other Chinese films to be screened during the festival include Zhang Yimou's Not One Less (1998), Chen Kaige's Together (2003), Zhang Yang's Shower (2000) and Feng Xiaogang's A Sigh (2000), the report said.

Chinese director He Ping will be a member of the international jury, and several other Chinese actresses will also attend the festival, it added.

This year's Cairo International Film Festival, an annual event, is due to be held on November 29 - December 9 during which over 130 films from some 50 countries will be screened, according to organizers.

(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2005)