Controversial Chinese films find an audience in London

When you think of London cinema, premieres in Leicester Square, twee Richard Curtis romcoms and James Bond stunt scenes probably spring to mind.

But until May 22, works including experimental video art from Hong Kong, a controversial documentary charting decades of cultural repression in Singapore and feature films from Taiwan and mainland China will be entertaining cinephiles in the British capital.

Now in its fifth year, the Chinese Visual Festival will screen more than 40 independent films from the Chinese-speaking world, at venues including the prestigious British Film Institute, on the South Bank.

Among those in attendance will be Zhang Peili, pioneer of the video-art genre in China and dean of the new media department at the China Academy of Art, which has campuses in Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Award-winning director Gu Tao's documentary , which explores dying traditions and the fate of ethnic minority groups in modern China, was due to be screened on Friday, followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker.

Directed by a Scotsman - film critic and Chinese-cinema obsessive James Mudge - the festival aims to introduce its offerings to British audiences as well as Asian-born cinephiles residing abroad.