During the next four weeks China will release a number of films to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

CPC was founded on July 1, 1921 in Shanghai.

The Forest Ranger, the Best Feature Film winner at the 13th Beijing Student Film Festival and a candidate for the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival, is among the 26 movies to mark the CPC's anniversary. It features a ranger who dies protecting a state-owned forest. The film reveals some of the social problems associated with environmental protection in China.

The screenings have been initiated by the Chinese Film Circulation and Projection Association, China Film Producers' Association, the City Cinema Association of China and they have the support of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).

"It's the CPC who turned China's film making industry around as it was neglected and weak before new China was founded in 1949," Tong Gang, director of the Film Bureau of the SARFT told a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

"Cinema companies must land the support of local governments in playing these films and should pay attention to the rural market not just the urban one," he added.

"It's a duty of the Chinese film makers to pay a tribute to the CPC," said Yang Buting, board chairman of the China Film Group Corporation, the biggest film production and distribution company in China.

The movies also include Legend of Seasons, about a college graduate who volunteers to work to educate the poor in rural areas, Endless Love, about a CPC official who wholeheartedly helps the public solve problems and The Backbone, a documentary film following generations of CPC leaders including Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

(Xinhua News Agency June 14, 2006)