The festival’s focused on promoting an understanding of Chinese culture and society both presently and historically. The festival also aimed to publicize the new Chinese major at the Academy.

''Films are the best way to discover another culture,'' said Assistant Professor Rui Shen, Chinese language, cinema and literature instructor. ”It’s entertaining and at the same time, you can learn so much.''

The festival featured a variety of genres and themes from China, which is the world’s third largest producer of feature films behind the United States and India. Many of the selected films placed emphasis on the differences in contemporary China from the past century.

''I think these films offer a good historical perspective of the changes in China over the last century,'' said Shen. ''One film is about Chinese culture in the 1940’s through the 1980’s. It offers a perspective of life so that you see the change over the years.''

One of the films, Jasmine Women, focuses on the lives of women over the 20th century. Another, Tuya’s Marriage, shows life from a minority’s perspective and offers a glimpse of China from yet another angle.

''The film is about a Mongolian woman,'' said Shen. ''When people think of China they usually don’t think of different ethnicities when in fact, there are more than 56 different ethnicities in China.''

Shen also pointed out the importance of learning other languages for Midshipmen, as life in the military often involves world travel.

''Language is a window to another world, and a different way of thinking,'' said Shen.