With 20 days to go, the Kickstarter launched by producer/distributor Karin Chien, critic/curator Shelly Kraicer, and filmmaker/anthropologist J.P. Sniadecki has already hit its initial target goal for the purpose of organizing a series showcasing some of the best films shown at the Beijing Independent Film Festival. These works — including People’s Park, a personal favorite film of the last few years co-directed by Sniadecki and Libbie Cohn — were all once screened at the Festival, which was shut down completely last year by Chinese authorities. (You can read more about that here.) The initial funding goals focused on bringing over […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jul 16, 2015You may have read over the weekend about the Chinese government shutting down the Beijing Independent Film Festival. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened: the Associated Press’ Didi Tang has a solid overview of this year’s events and past context here. As writer/critic/curator Shelley Kraicer pointed out on Twitter, the shutdown also included a raid on the Li Xianting Film Fund, the festival host which “has (had?) likely the most comprehensive collection of independent Chinese films.” A statement co-signed by the heads of the Rotterdam International Film Festival and heads of other major fests including the […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 25, 2014