MCLC: police break up BIFF

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Anne Henochowicz <anne at chinadigitaltimes.net>
Subject: police break up BIFF
********************************************************

Source: China Digital Times (8/24/13):
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2013/08/police-break-beijing-independent-film-
festival/

Police Break Up Beijing Independent Film Festival

The 10th Beijing Independent Film Festival (BIFF) was effectively
cancelled on Friday according to Time Out Beijing’s Simon Zhou, who
reported that police eventually made a deal with pleading festival
director Wang Hongwei:

<<A deal had been struck. The directors, jury, and invited guests of the
festival, among them those who had taken the train from Xinjiang or been
flown in all the way from Sweden and Iran, would be handed out DVDs
containing the entire programme of films. We would be permitted to watch
them, on computer screens or televisions, in groups of two or three, but
no more than five.

<<We would have to sign contracts promising to abide by these conditions,
or face the consequences. If the organisers didn’t agree these conditions,
and tried to go ahead with the festival anyway, the electricity from the
entire village of Songzhuang would be cut, and Wang Hongwei would be put
in prison. Fifteen years ago, Wang played the eponymous role in Jia
Zhangke’s seminal film The Pickpocket (pictured). [Source
<http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/features/Blogs-Books__Film_Blogs/23002/The-d
eath-of-independent-cinema-in-China.html>]>>

Time Out Beijing added that festival goers experienced a similar
disruption last year due to a sudden power outage:
<http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/features/Blogs-Books__Film_Blogs/22999/Beiji
ng-Independent-Film-Festival-cancelled-Kind-of.html>

<<This is, of course, a triumph for the authorities, for whom BIFF always
looked too much like an uncontrollable hotbed of potential sedition:
unapproved talk about unapproved films by unapproved persons. Last year’s
mysterious power cut could theoretically have had the double result of
breaking up the community while – being an act of god – ensuring that
nobody could be blamed. The result, however, was that that same community
pulled together, spreading the weight of the festival by screening films
in homes, studios and other private spaces. [Source
<http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/features/Blogs-Books__Film_Blogs/22999/Beiji
ng-Independent-Film-Festival-cancelled-Kind-of.html>]>>


See netizen comments on last year’s power cut
<http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2012/08/film-festival-censored-by-government/
 and Austin Ramzy’s report from 2011′s event
<http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2011/10/party-elite-and-police-all-have-a-say
-on-culture/> via CDT.

At P.I.G. China, Samantha Culp outlined the careful preparations that had
been taken in the hope that this year’s festival, unlike the last two,
would be left alone
<http://pigchina.com/beijing-cinephiles-cross-their-fingers-biff-preview/>:

<<This time around, the organizers have purchased an electric generator,
but are also trying other strategies to help the events run smoothly.
Screenings have been scheduled not only in Songzhuang, but in more central
Beijing venues ranging from a hip Gulou cafe to 798’s Ullens Center for
Contemporary Art. With a wider geographic scope, artistic director Dong
Bingfeng hopes the festival can be protected from interference and “can
attract audiences of different backgrounds”. The programmers have included
two programs of films from outside China, namely Iran and Indonesia, to
drive more international discourse, and the festival will also emphasize
the importance of a counterintuitive platform for cinema – books. Several
forums will center on the Li Xianting
<http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/li-xianting/> Film Foundation’s new
publication initiative. “Over the past 20 years, mainland China has
generated a lot of independent films, but there’s still a lack of theory
and criticism about them,” says Dong. “This year we’ll premiere three new
books as case-studies on the international film artists Yang Fudong, Tsai
Ming-Liang and Raqs Media Collective.” [Source
<http://pigchina.com/beijing-cinephiles-cross-their-fingers-biff-preview/>]

Art critic and BIFF funder Li Xianting had his film school, the Li
Xianting film school, shut down by authorities earlier last month
<http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2013/07/li-xianting-film-school-closed-by-aut
horities/>. Independent Chinese film curator Jane Valentine Hsu tweeted Li
Xianting’s alleged remarks on the police action in Songzhuang:

August 24, 2013 9:34 PM
Posted By: Natalie Ornell <http://chinadigitaltimes.net/author/nornell/>