Yan Shaofei (R), General Secretary of the China Film Association, receives an honorary award from Greek director Kostas Ferris at the Chinese Film Festival 2019 in Athens, Greece, on May 5, 2019. Athens hosts the Chinese film festival this week as part of efforts to further strengthen Sino-Greek cultural ties. [Photo/Xinhua]

Athens hosts a Chinese film festival this week as part of efforts to further strengthen Sino-Greek cultural ties.

Movies can help open a new window to facilitate understanding and cooperation between the two countries and peoples, Greek and Chinese artists said during the opening event on Sunday evening.

The festival which is organized by the China Film Association and the Hellenic Film Association, opened with the screening of the film "A cool fish" directed by Rao Xiaozhi, who attended the event.

Each evening until May 8 the Greek audience will have the chance to see a total of four Chinese films released in 2018 and 2019.