SOFIA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese movie "Vanishing Days" will open the international competition program of the 23rd edition of Sofia International Film Festival (SIFF), the biggest film festival in Bulgaria, an official of the film festival told Xinhua here on Tuesday.

Stefan Kitanov, SIFF's director and producer, said after the press conference of the festival that the movie directed by Zhu Xin would be screened on March 10 in the Cinema House.

"The film is of very high quality," Kitanov said.

Its world premiere was last year at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, and the film also participated in the Berlin International Film Festival this year, Kitanov said.

A representative of the film, its director or producer, would come to Sofia, Kitanov added.

He also said that next year the festival plans to focus on China's cinema. "We have very good relationships with the Shanghai International Film Festival and other partners including the Confucius Institute, so we will prepare a serious Chinese program," Kitanov said.

A total of 98 full-length feature films and 57 documentaries, as well as 28 short films, will participate in this year's edition of the three-week festival, which will kick off next Thursday.