THE Far East was the destination for one member of staff from Hereford's Rural Media looking to explore potential Anglo-Sino co-productions.

Development Manager Rich Matthews attended the second Annual Ningbo International Microfilm Festival.

He gave a presentation on UK short filmmaking and tried out his linguistic skills by presenting an award in Mandarin at the festival’s awards ceremony which was shown live to 10 million people in the region.

The second leg of the trip took Mr Matthews to Shanghai for a series of business meetings with major players from the Shanghai Media Group, China Film International, ALD Cultural Development Institute and the Department for International Trade.

“China is ahead of the game with Microfilm,” said Mr Matthews, “which specifically recognises the potential of short online films as the future of smartphone entertainment.

"With Rural Media’s interest in talent development and commitment to short form film with the Random Acts programme and partnering on the Hereford College of Art’s BA in Short Form Filmmaking, the trip was an invaluable experience that has already yielded some great opportunities for our regional networks.”