China and the United States launched in Beijing Saturday a short film competition open to Chinese university students to promote IPR protection.

The organizing committee of the 14th Beijing Student Film Festival and the Motion Picture of America Association (MPAA) jointly launched the contest for the one-minute films.

Budding university film makers must hand in their works by March 15. Films will be judged in three categories: digital video (DV), cartoons and mobile phone films, according to the organizing committee.

The winner of the contest will win a trip to Hollywood, the Avenue of Stars, Warners Brothers Studio and Disneyland.

The Beijing Student Film Festival, launched in 1993, offers a platform to small-budget Chinese-made films and new directors and actors.

The contest will popularize knowledge of IPR protection among Chinese young people, sources with the organizing committee said.

China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and Ministry of Culture signed a memo on film copyright protection with the MPAA in July 2005, reaching consensus about copyright protection for US film products in the Chinese market.

The China Film Copyright Protection Association (CFCPA) and MPAA signed a memorandum of understanding on March 3, 2006, boosting China's efforts to protect film copyright.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2007)