The 14th International Women's Film Festival in Seoul will kick off on Thursday for an eight-day run until April 26 with an opening ceremony at Welch-Ryang Auditorium of Ewha Womans University, organizers said Tuesday.

Mexican director Paula Markovitch's "The Prize" will raise the curtain for the festival that is held under the slogan "see the world through women's eyes."

A total of 120 films presented from 30 countries will be screened at nine theaters in Seoul, including Arteon Theater, CGV Songpa, Seoul Women's Plaza Arthall Bom and Gangdong Children's Center.

The opening film is the story of a mother and a daughter who risked a political escape during the period of military dictatorship in Argentina viewed from the perspective of the young daughter. Markovitch is an Argentinean by birth but selected Mexico as her homeland.

Diverse films such as feature films, documentaries, short films and experimental films will be shown again this year, according to the organizers.

The festival will offer a section that introduces films that show the international trends of women's films. By highlighting outstanding women's films made in the past one to two years, The New Currents section verifies the current trend and hints at the future of women's films.

Other sections of the festival include the Asian Spectrum: Japanese Cinema 1955x2012 - Eternal Breast; Polemics: Action! An Organizing Hope; East Asian Cinema Retrospective: A List Women in B Movies; and Queer Rainbow: From Nowhere to Everywhere.

The annual festival has been a global forum for women filmmakers to share their insights and creativity since 1997.

For more information visit the festival's Web site at www.wffis.or.kr or call 02-583-3598. (Yonhap)