The poster of Crazy Stone

A film season celebrating Chinese cinema starts in the British capital on Thursday.

Over the coming three weeks, a dozen films covering a broad surveying of contemporary Chinese cinema including special screening of Crazy Stone and a medley of international shorts Vision Beijing inspired by Beijing and life before the Olympics will be screened at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in downtown London.

The ICA was among the first to champion the new wave of Chinese cinema during the 1980s, releasing Yellow Earth and The Horse Thief. In the coming season, it will celebrate the heritage by releasing the great film-maker Tian Zhuangzhuang's new film The Go Master as well as his earlier works including The Horse Thief, Springtime in a Small Town, The Blue Kite and Delamu, in association with Film London, China State Film Bureau and the Mayor of London.

Other films to be shown in the season are The Old Barber, A Battle of Wits, The Forest Ranger, Three City Hotshots, Secret Trip and A Great Master Recaptured.

Spotlight Beijing is part of the third China in London season, the capital's biggest ever, which has seen some of London's most prestigious cultural institutions such as, ICA, V&A, British Museum, Royal Academy of Music, Kew Gardens and the London Zoo put on over 500 events from February to April of this year.

This year, China in London celebrates the unique relationship that London and Beijing share as Olympic hosts and handover cities and one of the seasons spectacular highlights will be when the Olympic torch relay comes to London on April 6th. Over 300,000 people are expected to participate in the events, which range from free Chinese Opera Workshops for children, Chinese tea tasting and modern opera performances, to the Spotlight Beijing film season, Chinese Elderly Art Group performing traditional Chinese cultural and martial arts.

During the China in London festival, the British Film Institute is showing films by Jia Zhangke, one of China's leading contemporary film-makers. Beijing on Screen also comes to the Museum of Docklands and Harrow Arts Center in London.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2008)