A UNIQUE film festival showcasing independent Chinese cinema is taking place in Oxford next week.

Filming East Festival manager Xiao Yang and director Sun Xiaoxiao have eschewed Hollywood-style offerings which focus on martial arts in favour of homegrown films which rarely make it past the Chinese censors, let alone to western audiences.

The festival will be opened by Oxford Lord Mayor John Tanner tomorrow and will start with a free screening of Little Red Flowers, which tells the story about a four-year-old boy effectively dumped in a Beijing kindergarten, at the Ultimate Picture Palace in Jeune Street.

It is the first Filming East Festival and Mr Xiao said he hoped it would become an annual event.

He said: "The aim is really to introduce the quality Chinese independent films to the UK.

"The situation in China is quite different to what it is in the West, because the government there only promotes an funds specifically selected films. There is also a very strict censorship system.

"They're all Hollywood films made with a Chinese theme. They aren't authentic Chinese films in terms of representing real Chinese life and culture."

He added: "We think all this leaves a very bad impression because people think Chinese films are all about martial arts and 'eye candy' with no story."

The festival has been organised by volunteer film-makers, at a financial loss, in a bid to showcase what Chinese film-makers have to offer.

Mr Xiao said Oxford was chosen as the venue due to its reputation as a centre for culture and education.

He said: "If we were going to host this festival in London we would get bigger audiences, but London is a commercial place - it's just not right."

He added: "There are thousands of good Chinese films out there, but they have no way of making it to the West.

"We decided we needed to have a dedicated film festival in the UK for those shining jewels that aren't really shining at the moment."

The film festival is expected to attract members of the Chinese community, Chinese students, people from the film-making world, and local movie-goers.

Films screened will include short and feature-length films and documentaries.

Saied Marham, who runs the Ultimate Picture Palace, said: "People tend to have a preconception about China but there are independent film makers there making films about all kinds of issues. This is a chance to see them.

"It shows there is creativity in China. Different titles will appeal to different people because they cover a range of different issues."

Day tickets will be available for a nominal fee and more information is available at www.filmingeast.org or www.ultimatepicturepalace.com