You hardly need to be told that the Chinese film industry is, like everything else from that powerhouse, rapidly gaining in strength and influence. Yet we have, to this point, not been offered a major jamboree celebrating the country’s increasingly mighty cinematic output. That all changes this year with the launch of a film event organised in conjunction with the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival.

The DCNYF Chinese Film Festival, which unveiled its programme earlier this week, sets out to celebrate the "very best of contemporary Chinese film". Beginning next Friday, February 4th, the event will screen 12 movies over a busy seven days. As well as presenting movies in Dublin's Screen Cinema and the Irish Film Institute, the organisers will also be bringing their attractive wares to Cork and Galway.

The festival opens with Teddy Chen's Bodyguards and Assassinsat the IFI, and will close on February 13th with the world premiere of Blood Oath,a historical epic about rivalry, lust and betrayal in 206 BC, starring Gong Li. Director Stephen Shin will introduce the film and take part in a Q&A after the screening. Other presentations include Ip Man, an acclaimed martial arts drama starring Donnie Yen, and – a European premiere this – that film's conservatively titled sequel, Ip Man 2.
For information on further events, including an animation seminar, go to dublin.ie/cny.