Chinese flicks spice up film festival

This year\'s Shanghai International Film Festival screens more than 300 feature films. In addition to the strong lineup of international cinema-which includes Chinese premieres of many of the strongest films of the past year-the festival is also a key event for presenting a diverse range of local cinema to the world at a time when China is producing more than 450 feature films a year.

As in recent years, more than 40% of the programme is represented by European cinema, indicating the importance cultural agencies place in China\'s leading film festival. Just last year, China became one of the world\'s ten biggest box office markets for film distribution; this year, it is almost certain to be among the world\'s five largest film markets.

More than one third of this year\'s programme originates from Asia, including 46 films from China. Chinese films that have already competed at international film festivals include Jiang Wenli\'s Lan (Pusan), Li Fangfang\'s Heaven Eternal, Earth Everlasting (Tokyo) and Wang Xiaoshuai\'s Chongqing Blues (Cannes).

The festival is also a unique opportunity to see a broad range of current commercial Chinese cinema with English subtitles. Films opening in Chinese cinemas in June that receive festival screenings include Yan Po\'s Love in Cosmo, John Chiang\'s Illusion Apartment , Cai Xin\'s You Deserve to be Single and Herman Yau\'s The Legend is Born: Ip Man.

International jury president John Woo is honoured with a programme of some of his best-loved films from the 1980s including A Better Tomorrow and The Killer, his breakthrough film in the West. His legacy can be seen in the kinetic action of Dante Lam\'s Fire of Conscience  and Teddy Chen\'s historical action epic Bodyguards and Assassins, shot just outside Shanghai during last year\'s festival.

This year\'s festival has a particularly large programme of films from Japan and South Korea as the festival turns its focus on collaboration between the Chinese film industry and its Asian neighbours.