A press conference held in Beijing on Saturday revealed that the first Filming East Festival 2007 (Beijing/London/Oxford) will be held in Oxford from October 21 to 27.

Sponsored by the UK Film Council and the Screen South and presented by Anglo-Chinese International Ltd., the FEF is the only film festival that specifically aims to introduce and promote the Chinese film industry and film community to a British audience.

According to Sun Xiaoxiao, the chief planner and Director of the FEF, the highlight of the week-long festival will be its competition part called One Minute China. Filmmakers in China and Britain, professional or amateur, are encouraged to shoot a one-minute film on China through their digital video lenses. The best 30 films will be presented at the festival and the top ten will be granted awards during the closing ceremony. Moreover, award-winning films from the One-minute Film Competition at Communication University of China will also be on screened. All of the award-winning films will be available through new media such as on the Internet and mobile video. So far, some 160 films have been submitted. The deadline for submission is September 27.

The FEF jury comprises Chris Berry (Professor of Film and Television Studies and Co-director of the Goldsmiths Media Research Program), John Quick (Coordinator of MA in Documentary by Practice, Director of Graduate Studies, Royal Holloway University of London), Dr. Wang Tao (Senior Lecturer in Chinese Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London), Gideon Koppel (award-winning director of Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival), and Hugh Purcell (Consultant of the One World Broadcasting Trust).

The non-competition part of the FEF is called Features. Over 50 independent films (shot after 2005) from the Beijing Film Academy, Communication University of China as well as domestic independent filmmakers will be screened.

"I am honored to receive an invitation from the FEF, who will take my film to audiences in Britain," said Xiao Jiang, director of Electric Shadows (Dianying Wangshi). "The most important thing for a film director, in my opinion, is for audiences from different cultural backgrounds to have access to your film."

The film, according to the director, will be presented at the Third Paris Chinese Film Festival before the FEF. "My favorite director Alan Parker lives in Britain," she continued. "He praised my talent after watching my film, and that is a spiritual backup for my career. It will be great to see him again. I will have a face-to-face talk with him when the FEF kicks off in October."

Meng Zhaocheng, Vice Secretary-General of the World Federation of Overseas Chinese Associations, told Beijing Review that the FEF plays an important role in bridging Sino-British cultural exchanges.

"The FEF will offer opportunities for British audiences, as well as local and overseas Chinese, to know what is going on in China, and arouse their interest in Chinese culture," Meng said. "To a great extent, national culture is the most precious form of arts. Culture and arts in China should get as much attention as its rapid economic development."

The FEF is supported by the Education and Culture Sections of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU), Goldsmiths University of London, Communication University of China, Beijing Student Film Festival, the 63rd Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion award-winning director Jia Zhangke, the 56th Berlin International Film Festival Panorama Jury Award winner director Zhang Yuan, etc.