Film stars hit the green carpet

The cast of Blindness attended the festival's opening ceremony

Stars swapped the red carpet for a green one made of recycled plastic bottles as the Tokyo International Film Festival got under way in Japan.

The environment-themed festival will see films screened using electricity generated by wind energy.

Hollywood actress Julianne Moore and her Japanese co-star Yoshino Kimura appeared at the festival for the epidemic thriller Blindness.

Fifteen films are in competition for the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix.

Climate change

They include two Japanese films, Echo of Silence directed by actor Atsuro Watabe and School Days with a Pig by Tetsu Maeda.

Other offerings at the nine-day festival include Chinese films Claustrophobia, directed by Ivy Ho and Super Typhoon by Feng Xiaoning.

Academy Award-winning American actor Jon Voight will head the board of judges for the films, all of which are being screened for the first time in Asia.

The festival also includes an ecology category with films on the environment and documentaries about climate change and animals.

The Sakura Grand Prix will be announced on 26 October.