As events shut down and regulations tighten, China’s remaining independent movie festivals fight to stay relevant and afloat
When the China Independent Film Festival (CIFF) announced its closure in 2020, many scholars and filmmakers mourned the end of an era. “There are not many independent film festivals left in China,” says Jiang Nengjie, an independent director based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. “Independence is a sensitive word.”
Hailing from a village in Hunan province, Jiang is known for making documentaries that center the lives of rural or marginalized people such as “left-behind children,” war veterans, and miners afflicted with pneumoconiosis (a fatal respiratory condition also known as “black lung”).
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