Mint Chinese Film Festival

Mint Chinese Film Festival (MINT CFF) is the first women-organised Chinese film festival in the UK. Founded by Chinese film curator Yixiang Shirley Lin and Keswick Alhambra Cinema’s co-owner Dr Carol Rennie, the festival focuses on cross-cultural communication and the representation of women.

As a year-round active film festival, Mint CFF not only holds an annual Chinese film festival at the Keswick Alhambra Cinema, but also curates and organises pop-up film screenings and relevant cultural and artistic events in various venues across the UK and other regions worldwide.

The 2nd edition of the MINT Chinese Film Festival will take place from Thursday 1 Feb to Sunday 4 Feb 2024 at Keswick Alhambra Cinema with rich film screenings, a fascinating Festival Gala, a thoughtful panel with film experts, and a workshop led by women artists and curator. Exciting cultural events and outdoor activities are planned in town, allowing every Minter, film lover and participant the opportunity to experience the Chinese festive atmosphere and celebrate the Year of the Dragon with the best and most pioneering Chinese films!

Based in the beautiful Lake District, Mint Chinese Film Festival endeavours to explore the diversity and creativity of Chinese cinema. The inaugural festival concluded on February 5, 2023, at the Keswick Alhambra Cinema in Cumbria, the Lake District of northern England, and was a tremendous success. The attendance of the three-day cultural extravaganza exceeded 1,000 people, with 75% of Chinese origin and 70% being female or non-binary.

Our Vision

We are dedicated to curating for underrepresented voices, images, and stories, actively discovering and supporting Chinese film creators, emerging women filmmakers and artists, and gender-diverse directors. We aim to introduce independent high-quality Chinese films and other cultural and artistic works (especially those created by women) to regions which rarely have the opportunity to engage with Chinese cinema and culture.

Our wish for 2024 (2ed) MINT CFF

Carol Rennie, co-founder of the MINT CFF and director of the Keswick Alhambra Cinema, says "we are so delighted the Festival will be coming back to Keswick in 2024. We are planning some craft activities with the young people of the town, who will be staging a procession to the cinema to welcome the Chinese festival attendees, helping them celebrate the coming the Year of the Dragon. It's wonderful to be bringing a window into Chinese culture to Keswick, and to be showcasing the beautiful Lake District to the Chinese attendees from up and down the country."

Yixiang Shirley Lin, co-founder and lead curator of the MINT CFF says “We’ve been working with a team of young women with diverse backgrounds and enthusiastic festival volunteers remotely since September to prepare the delivery of 2024 MINT CFF. We are very excited to bring the world premiere of our new creative programme, Xi Xiang Ji 西厢记 plus a live music performance (Romance of the Western Chamber), at the festival gala in Alhambra Cinema this year! Apart from the exciting special film programmes, we ambitiously added a new feature competition section to introduce the diversity of Chinese cinema and to arouse new thinking and discussions on cultural and gender identities through films. We hope all festival-goers can enjoy the exciting film programmes, events, screenings and activities with the Chinese New Year atmosphere in Keswick town!”

Sponsors and Partners

The 2024 (2nd) MINT Chinese Film Festival is supported by Film Hub North with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network.

The 2024 (2nd) MINT Chinese Film Festival was supported by alumni and friends of the University of Edinburgh through the Student Experience Grants scheme.