The 8th Asian Film Festival opened with a Japanese comedy film 'Robo-G' at the garden residence of the Japanese Consul General Matahiro Yamaguchi in Jeddah on Saturday.

Yamaguchi is this year's coordinator of the Asian Consuls-General Club (ACGC), which is organizing the film festival. The club consists of 13 Asian countries that include Korea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, India, China, Singapore, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Brunei Dar Islam, Indonesia and Japan.

The ACGC Film Festival will last until March 13 and will screen a feature film from each Asian country at six different locations. It will conclude with a food festival.

Around 300 guests including Saudi dignitaries, diplomats and movies lovers attended the opening ceremony and enjoyed Japanese cuisine.

The consuls general of the ACGC unveiled the 8th Asian Film Festival 2015 logo at the start of the event.

Yamaguchi welcomed guests and thanked them for their attendance at the cultural festival.

“This annual event is indeed a good opportunity for the Saudi people to recognize and get acquainted with different cultures and lifestyles. This year, another 11 films will be screened during the festival. The films vary in themes of action, comedy, tragedy and biography,” he said.

He further said that this year Japan and Saudi Arabia will celebrate 60 years of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.

"Cultural exchange programs between the two countries that include scholarships and youth exchange programs, academic cooperation between universities, tourist visits and cultural events such as the one tonight have played a big role in enhancing the relations between the two friendly countries and their people to a strategic level and we will make sure that our cultural exchange will continue for deeper understanding and knowledge of each other,” the Japanese Consul General added.

He gave a brief introduction about the Japanese feature film "Robo-G", a comedy movie about a robot prototype which is accidentally destroyed just days before a major robotics expo when three bumbling engineers think of a major scam to still be able to present a product, have a person wear a robot suit and pose as a working robot.

Suzuki, an old codger, at first gets tricked by the three into wearing the suit under the belief that he was portraying a costumed character, he inadvertently makes a splash at the expo when he rescues young robotics student and robot otaku, Sasaki Yoko (Yuriko Yoshitaka) from a falling display.

The ACGC countries will screen short documentaries about their countries’ cultures, traditions, customs and tourist sites.