# Harassment Forces Cancellation of New York City’s IndieChina Film Festival
A showcase of autonomous Chinese cinema in New York city was suspended just days before its scheduled launch due to alleged harassment targeting filmmakers and their families, highlighting the escalating reach of Chinese government censorship.
Zhu Rikun, the director of the inaugural IndieChina Film Festival, spent months preparing to welcome filmmakers and directors from China to New york City this week.Though, the event, intended as a small showcase of independent Chinese films, was abruptly suspended on November 6th following reports of intimidation. Zhu has as been appearing daily at the empty venue he booked as a form of protest.
“it was not the film festival that I prepared for,” zhu told NBC News on Friday morning.
according to a statement released prior to the cancellation, organizers received reports that filmmakers, directors, producers, and even their relatives in China were facing harassment. While many participants withdrew citing “personal reasons,” several confided to Zhu that they, or their family members, had been directly instructed to do so by Chinese authorities.
“I hope this declaration of the cancellation of IndieChina Film Festival will make certain unknown forces stop harassing all the directors, guests, former staff, volunteers and my friends and family,” Zhu stated on the festival’s website.
Despite the suspension, Zhu continues to visit the event space, often accompanied by a small group of fellow filmmakers, to screen films and continue discussions. “I am still a filmmaker.I’m still a filmmaker from China and I’m still an independent film curator,” he affirmed, acknowledging the increasing difficulties faced by independent filmmakers in China.
Zhu’s experience is not isolated. He previously spent nearly two decades working on independent film festivals in China, including co-founding the Beijing Independent Film Festival.However,these festivals began facing increased pressure and crackdowns following the rise of Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2012 and his governance’s emphasis on stringent ideological control. Human Rights Watch reports that Chinese authorities have effectively shut down all three major independent film festivals in China, including Zhu’s Beijing festival.
“Eventually, all of my film festivals were banned, none of them coudl continue,” Zhu explained.
The New York City event represented Zhu’s attempt to circumvent censorship and provide a platform for independent Chinese cinema. However, as Yalkun Uluyol, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, noted in a statement, “The Chinese government reached around the globe to shut down a film festival in New York City.” Uluyol further emphasized that this represents “a latest act of transnational repression” and demonstrates the government’s determination to control the global narrative surrounding China.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News. The Chinese Foreign Ministry,when contacted by The New York times this week,claimed unfamiliarity with the specifics of the
