Silver screen takes on a new dimension as East meets West

Chinese cinema has come out of the shadows in recent years as far as Western audiences are concerned, with an increasing number of movies making it to screens in Europe and the US. Collaboration between Hollywood and the Chinese film industry is also at an all time high as the film moguls of Los Angeles seek to cash in on China's huge box office potential.

But while the Chinese film industry has seen an explosion in size, it remains stunted in quality, at least as far as what Western audiences are fed, according to Chris Berry, professor of film studies at King's College, London.

"At a time when China is emerging as a power that may set the agenda for the world in the future, we all feel we want to know more," he says.