MILAN, Italy, May 8 (Xinhua) -- A two-day seminar kicked off here on Tuesday to make the Italian audience feel acknowledged with China's cinema history and culture.

Marie-Pierre Duhamel, a noted film critic and sinologist, presented to students and cinema followers a series of excerpts from movies between 1930s and recent years focusing on different techniques and languages.

According to Duhamel, who is also a member of the selection committee of the Venice Film Festival,"cinema history helps better understand some aspects of contemporary China".

The French expert said learning cinema evolution is an effective way to research the historical course of a country.

In the seminar, organized by the Confucius Institute of Milan University, she offered an insight view of Chinese cinema by highlighting the different use of spoken Mandarin in various historical periods.

"It is a real pity that foreign movies in Italy are usually dubbed instead than having subtitles," which prevents the public from coming into contact with outstanding Chinese language and culture, Duhamel told Xinhua.

"In order to go deep inside the subject I teach, I like to pursue a cultural approach to everything," a 62-year-old professor of political and economic geography at Venice Ca' Foscari University, Fabrizio Eva, told Xinhua at the seminar.

"In particular speaking of China, this country is so huge that there is always something new to learn. Today's conference was extremely interesting, being cinema an amazing instrument that carries many senses," he said.

For graduate student Sara Beretta deepening the knowledge of China's culture through delving into its rich cinema tradition was a pleasure besides a study.

"I am writing my thesis about Chinese contemporary cinema but I was impressed by the energy and passion felt at this seminar," she said.