Director and cinematographer Jason Lee Wong (L) discusses his documentary-style film which explores the relationships of 10 intercultural couples from Europe and China at the opening ceremony of the 5th annual EU Film Festival in Beijing on Thursday, November 1, 2012. [Photo/CRIENGLISH.com]

The fifth annual European Union Film Festival has kicked off in China.

One of the highlights this year will be the screening of the film "China-EU Love Links".

The documentary-style film explores the relationships of 10 inter-cultural couples from Europe and China.

Director Jason Lee Wong says the film looks why the couples fall in love and the difficulties faced in their relationships.

"They span from young couples to older couples, artists to businessmen, on the day of the wedding to the day of retirement, living in China and living in Europe. Our films not only talk about the wonderful reasons why they love each other, but also the difficulties of inter-culture relationships, as well as universal themes of family, friends and most importantly love."

This year the festival returns to Beijing, Chengdu and Shenzhen while Tianjin has been included for the first time as the fourth host city.

The festival runs until the end of November and will feature 26 movies from across Europe as well as a selection of short films.