Five short films on Beijing by world-famous directors from Italy, Britain, Iran, France and Hong Kong will be screened next month, the organizers said Wednesday.

Giuseppe Tornatore is shooting his short film in Beijing (File photo).

The five films, each lasting five minutes, are products of the "Vision Beijing Project", started in 2006 by the Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchange Association and the Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government to sell the city to the world when it hosts the Olympic Games next year.

The project required the directors to use their films visualizing the transformation of Beijing into a modern metropolis.

Among those participating were Italian Giuseppe Tornatore, Iranian Majid Majidi, Frenchman Patrice Leconte, Englishman Daryl Goodrich and Lau Wai-Keung from Hong Kong.

The films will be shown on the national network CCTV as well as on flights. National broadcasters in Italy, France and Iran will also air them.

According to the project's website, the directors used a variety of approaches to capture images of Beijing.

HK director Lau Wai-Keung and mainland actor Hu Jun at the shooting set. (File photo)

In his film, Tornatore, director of "Malena" and the "Legend of 1900", tells a story about a middle-school teacher reuniting with her students 30 years after their graduation. Majidi, director of the Oscar-nominated "Children of Heaven", focused on youth. 

The theme of Lau's film concerns Beijing's fine foods. He said that his basic goal was to present the Chinese capital's cuisine in a nice way "so that everyone in the audience wants to come to Beijing and have a meal after watching it". 
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2007)