[Editor's Note: The Film Society's Kent Jones and Dennis Lim co-signed a growing list of international film festival staff in support of the Beijing Independent Film Festival, which was not allowed to open recently. The statement, co-signers and background information on the situation follow.]

Statement in Support of the Beijing Independent Film Festival and the Li Xianting Film Fund:

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:

Adelaide Film Festival, Amanda Duthie, CEO/Director
Berlinale Forum, Christoph Terhechte, Head
China Independent Film Festival, Zhang Xianmin, Director
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
Festival International du Film de Belfort – EntreVues, Lili Hinstin, Artistic Director
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Dennis Lim, Director of Programming
The Flaherty, Anita Reher, Executive Director
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
Ischia Film Festival, Michelangelo Messina, Artistic Director
Istanbul Film Festival, Azize Tan, Director
Lima Independiente Festival Internacional de Cine, Alonso Izaguirre, Director
Melbourne Cinematheque, Dr Adrian Danks, Co-curator
Melbourne International Film Festival, Michelle Carey, Artistic Director
New York Film Festival, Kent Jones, Director
New Zealand International Film Festival, Bill Gosden, Director
Salerno DOC Festival, Franco Cappuccio, Director
Shadows Chinese Independent Film Festival, Antoine Hervé, 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
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, Fujioka AsakoAdelaide Film Festival, Amanda Duthie, CEO/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. ]