There's a JAP on the Boat! I don't mean the racial pejorative sometimes still floating around since WWII. I'm talking about the "Jewish American Princess," Anna Sophie Loewenberg, better known to the world as Su Fei, who is the creator, writer, director, producer, and star of the popular internet TV series, Sexy Beijing. And last Thursday night she hosted an event at the Stone Boat Bar presenting clips from her hit series and featuring other fresh young Beijing filmmakers in the process.

If you have been living under a rock in Beijing, you might not have heard of Loewenberg's show, Sexy Beijing, a "Sex and the City" influenced interview show where the host "Su Fei" (Loewenberg) gets inside the Chinese mind by chatting with the locals about love, relationships, holidays, and even politics. Her style is light-hearted and honest and her premise--like every princess, she is looking for her prince. From the hutongs of Beijing to the dim sum shops of Hong Kong, Su Fei searches high and low for her Chinese Prince Charming and along the way she gives her viewers a unique and colorful look into China.

The program, Sexy Beijing, has become wildly popular on both Tudou.com and YouTube.com where the first episode has over a million hits. Sexy Beijing is the brainchild of Danwei TV which created other popular China related internet programs like the Hard Hat Show and Beijing Beat. The former giving an inside look at the current state of media, advertising, tradition, and trends in China and the later focusing on Chinese music, dance and performance art. Beijing Beat is also where they feature work by up-and-coming filmmakers. Which brings us to the party on a boat--the Stone Boat Bar in Ritan Park, to be more specific.

Last Thursday, Su Fei and company in an effort to promote local filmmakers based in Beijing hosted a cozy get together on the southwest shore of Ritan Park. The evening began with the usual, drinks and mingling until Su Fei fired up the opening "act." The filmmakers present at the event all met through the website tudou.com and work together to encourage art and creativity in the field of film, animation, videography, and blogging.

The Stone Boat Bar was an exciting location for the evening's event with a big screen stretched across the front of the "boat." Many viewers sat inside and outside the cozy lakeside bar which is host to several similar events for film screenings and musical performances.

Some of the films featured in the evening's event could be on par to win awards at national and international festivals, if given the chance. One, in particular, was extremely well-made. It was a documentary called "Jaba and Jecka" following the daily lives of two Tibetan monks (Jaba and Jecka) living in the picturesque countryside of Western Sichuan on the Tibetan Plateau. The beauty and serenity of the majestic mountains was reflected in the beauty and simplicity of the two men's daily lives. The film was twenty minutes long with very little dialogue and followed seemingly mundane activities such as eating breakfast and harvesting grain, yet nearly every moment was captivating and interesting because it was so beautiful and simple. It makes one think about what is really important in this face-paced ipod, DSL, high-rise city life.

The other films ranged between 2 to 5 minutes from animation to music video. There was also a touching film about the recent Sichuan earthquake. A Taiwanese filmmaker Bombdi got some of the biggest responses of the night with his music video impression of the pop artist Jolin complete with Turkish belly dancer costume. He also does unparalleled impressions of movie stars like Richard Ng and Johnny Depp.

The evening was not without technical difficulties, but overall the effect was achieved: to introduce fresh talent working in Beijing to the community living in Beijing. It was well-received and hopefully soon to be repeated. Meanwhile, Princess Su Fei continues her journey looking for love in China.