CUMBRIA'S first-ever Chinese film festival is set to arrive in the New Year - with the organisers hoping to make it an annual event.
Keswick’s Alhambra Cinema is set to host the first Mint Chinese Festival, organised by the cinema’s co-owner Dr Carol Rennie and London-based film curator Yixiang Shirley Lin.
Dr Rennie, who has a PHD from Edinburgh University in Chinese literature and spent years living in Taiwan, said she never thought it would be possible to host her own film festival.
"I thought I could never do a Chinese film festival because of a lack of audience, but it suddenly seemed possible when I met Yixiang I found out that both in Edinburgh and Leeds studying film, three quarters of students are Chinese - that's enough to base this on," she said.
The event, which runs from February 3 to 5, is centred to focus on cross-cultural communication of Chinese cinema and women’s representation in films.
"It must be the first Asian film festival to happen anywhere that isn't in a huge city in the UK. I'm really excited and hopeful that it might be something that makes a difference.
"It's a little bit like the Levelling Up agenda, things don't always have to happen in big cities, of course it's much more convenient but given we're in a location that people really want to visit, it might add a real draw for people to see the Lake District and come to this festival. It's going to be good for Cumbria's tourism," she said.
Dr Rennie, who is also on the board of Keswick Tourism Association, said the festival is alligned with their goals of trying to achieve more sustainable tourism by capitalising on the 'hundreds of thousands of Chinese students in the UK'.
The festival will feature showings from mainland China but also the works of filmmakers from Hong Kong, including LGBTQ filmmaker Stanly Kwan.
Some other films on the bill include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Myth of Love , Double Life and Barbarian Invasion - the story of a celebrated award-winning actress who has become a full-time mom and divorcée since retiring. She decides to star as a lead in a martial arts film to regain her confidence, but the director decides to cast her ex-husband as the male lead.
Submissions for short films can also be made to via www.keswickalhambra.co.uk/mint-chinese-film-festival
The festival has already reached 285 short film submissions, Dr Rennie added: "That already shows you the reach.
"We hope to make it an annual event, which would be fabulous".
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