MCLC: Beijing Independent Film Fest shut down (6)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Shelly Kraicer <shellyk at me.com>
Subject: Beijing Independent Film Fest shut down (6)
*************************************************************

A growing number of international film festivals have co-signed a
Statement of Support for the Beijing Independent Film Festival and the Li
Xianting Film Fund.

Here are two links (one from IFFR, one from NYFF / Film Society Lincoln
Center) to the Statement, released today.

http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/professionals/news-2014-2015/statement
-in-support-of/

http://www.filmlinc.com/daily/entry/the-film-society-joins-international-fe
stivals-in-support-of-the-beijing-in

Find the statement below.

cheers

Shelly Kraicer

==========================================================

Statement in Support of the
Beijing Independent Film Festival and the Li Xianting Film Fund
 
Date: August 25, 2014
 

As independent film festivals and supporters of independent cinema, we
have learned with deep concern that the Chinese government and police
authorities have prevented the 11th Beijing Independent Film Festival
based in Songzhuang, Beijing, from opening last weekend, August 23rd, and
detained its organizers Wang Hongwei, Fan Rong, and Li Xianting for
several hours. We are also deeply concerned that BIFF’s sponsoring
organization, the Li Xianting Film Fund, has been raided, and the entirety
of its invaluable archives of independent Chinese cinema have reportedly
been confiscated.

We call upon the relevant Chinese authorities to permit the Beijing
Independent Film Festival to pursue its mission to nurture and exhibit a
full range of alternative cinematic voices in China, to allow the festival
to operate without interference, and to allow the Li Xianting Film Fund to
continue its vital mission of archiving and supporting independent Chinese
filmmakers.

 
Chinese translation:

 
作為獨立電影節以及獨立電影的支持者，我們非常關心中國政府及警方上週末（8月23日）
阻止在北京宋庄舉辦的第十一屆北京獨立電影節開幕，並拘留主辦者王宏偉、
范榮及栗憲庭達數小時的行動。對於主辦單位栗憲庭電影基金會遭警方搜查，據報導，基
金會所保存的珍貴的中國獨立電影資料庫也遭全數查抄，我們也同樣深感關切。
 
我們呼籲中國相關當局讓北京獨立電影節繼續運作，並且停止干預電影節培養及映演中國
另類電影視野的宗旨，也讓栗憲庭電影基金會持續其保存及支持獨立中國影人的重
要使命。

 
Co-signed:
 

Berlinale Forum, Christoph Terhechte, Head
Curtas Vila do Conde International Film Festival, Nuno Rodrigues, Miguel
Dias, Mário Micaelo, co-directors
dGenerate Films, Karin Chien, President
DocLisboa, Cíntia Gil and Augusto M. Seabra, co-directors
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Dennis Lim, Director of Programming
Göteborg International Film Festival, Jonas Holmberg, Artistic Director,
Marit Kapla, Head of Programme
Hong Kong Independent Film Festival, Vincent Chui, Artistic Director
Images Cinema, Doug Jones, Executive DIrector
International,Film Festival Rotterdam, Rutger Wolfson, Festival Director
Lima Independiente Festival Internacional de Cine, Alonso Izaguirre,
Director
New York Film Festival, Kent Jones, Director
Sydney Film Festival, Nashen Moodley, Festival Director
Taiwan International Documentary Festival, Wood Lin, Program Director
The Association of Documentary Filmakers of Chile, Amalric de Pontcharra
Torino Film Festival, Emanuela Martini, Director
Tromsø International Film Festival, Martha Otte, Festival Director
Tokyo Filmex, Shozo Ichiyama, Program Director
True/False Film Fest, Paul Sturtz and David Wilson, co-directors
Visions du Réel, Luciano Barisone, Director
 

Background to the Statement:
 

On Saturday, August 23, the day it was to open, the 11th annual Beijing
Independent Film Festival was shut down by the Chinese authorities. BIFF,
supported and hosted for many years by the Li Xianting Film Fund, has been
one of the most important venues within China for the exhibition of new,
unauthorized, independent Chinese film, films that the censors won’t allow
to be openly screened for Chinese audiences. The festival takes place at
the headquarters of the Li Xianting Film Fund in the artist village of
Songzhuang, a distant suburb of Tongzhou District, Beijing. For the past
three years, Chinese police and local authorities have harassed the
festival. But they have not succeeded, until this year, in completely
shutting it down.

Police, State Security personnel, and representatives of various levels of
government contacted and pressured the festival: on Saturday the
electricity to the festival’s headquarters and sponsoring organization,
the Li Xianting Film Fund, was cut, and anonymous “villagers" were sent to
surround the headquarters and in some cases physically intimidate visitors
and journalists. In what may be even more ominous news, noted critic and
festival sponsor Li Xianting reported that the Film Fund’s complete
archives and equipment were forcibly confiscated by the Chinese police.
These archives comprise what is likely the most extensive collection
within China of independent films and related research materials from the
last ten years.

 
[Detailed background and chronology of the shutdown, from the
China Media Project: http://cmp.hku.hk/2014/08/25/35807/ ]