Two Chinese films are expected to be top draws at this year's British Film Institute London Film Festival, which kicked off on Wednesday night Beijing time.

Directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Dearest is a film about child abduction and has been selected for the official competition section, while Jacob Cheung's wuxia (martial arts) epic The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom will have its international premiere and headline the festival's cult strand.

The two films join seven other Chinese films that are part of the 12-day festival's 248-strong lineup of movies from across the world. It also highlights Electric Shadows, a yearlong program by the BFI to encourage creative and business exchanges between China and the United Kingdom.

Featuring a high-profile star cast that includes Huang Bo, Zhao Wei, Tong Dawei and Hao Lei, and written by Zhang Ji, Dearest is the follow up to Sun's highly successful American Dreams in China, but this time he projects the country's darker social realities.

The powerful drama is based on true stories of child abduction in China and follows the ordeal of a Chinese couple whose young child is kidnapped. With an unexpected twist halfway through the film, Dearest tackles relationships and human emotion as much as societal issues about class, contemporary values and city versus rural life.

The movie is up for the Best Film Award that celebrates inventive and inspiring filmmaking, and will compete with 11 other films from countries such as the UK, Australia and France - plus Russia's Leviathan, Andrey Zvyagintsev's drama that picked up a best screenplay award at Cannes earlier this year.

The festival features nine program sections built on themes such as love, laughter, family, debate ("riveting films" that "argue and surprise"), dare ("films that take you out of your comfort zone) and the music-inspired sonic strand.

Headlining this year's cult strand with a red carpet gala is The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom, Cheung's Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) saga featuring such household names as Fan Bingbing as the mystical sorceress Jade Raksha. While Chinese audiences might be familiar with the film and novel-adapted wuxia legacy, to British viewers, the "cult" title status could suggest a relatively new genre of Chinese cinema.

Wuxia films aren't frequently screened in UK cinemas and are mostly known to Chinese-British or fan-based audiences, according to festival director Clare Stewart. "We want to play a role in changing that and in opening up the market here for those films, as well as supporting independent or specialized Chinese cinema to reach an audience."

Headlining the festival's cult section is a big honor for Cheung.

"It's wonderful to share my thoughts with people from different places," Cheung says.

"It's encouraging when we see more Chinese filmmakers go overseas to establish a brand of Chinese cinema."

At the same time, the director says he's not surprised that his film has attracted an international audience.

"The movie reveals a language that goes across the board," he says. "What I want British audiences to take away is more than entertainment, but also an emotional interaction - an understanding of sacrifice and love, as well as the gray zone between black and white."

Also showcasing stellar Chinese filmmaking is Diao Yinan's Black Coal, Thin Ice, this year's Golden Bear winner at the Berlin International Film Festival in February.

The film, a part of the thriller stand, tells the story of a cop (Liao Fan) who is obsessed with a serial killer. It is set in cold, gray northern China and spans five years.

Also under the thriller section is Kung Fu Jungle, which will hold its world premiere at the festival.

Following the story of an imprisoned martial arts instructor who collaborates with the police, the film that Chen says is "my first to cross martial arts combat in a contemporary Hong Kong action film, with elements of a thriller and crime detective story" has a stunning martial arts grand finale that is worth the price of admission alone.

Taiwan's filmmaking is also being celebrated. Hsiang Chieen's independent film Exit is a moving portrait of middle age and loneliness set in Kaohsiung city, while Dragon Inn presents a historical take on the wuxia genre.

King Hu's 1967 masterpiece is similarly set in the Ming Dynasty with plenty of the action and martial arts drama that characterize such films.

"It is important to open up this history for British audiences," Stewart says.

"Chinese cinema in the broadest definition of the term is very rich and diverse. Our selection is varied, and it's important to select films from the full spectrum of production."

The BFI London Film Festival runs from Oct 8 to 19.

Contact the writers through wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn

Ming Liu is a journalist for the Financial Times.

(China Daily USA 10/09/2014 page8)