Announcement of the China Independent Film Funding Recipients at the Fanhall website By Isabella Tianzi Cai On November 30, the results of the inaugural grants for the China Independent Film Fund were announced on the Fanhall website. The grants went to two fiction films and two documentaries. Each fiction film was awarded 60,000 RMB (or 9,000 USD) and each documentary was awarded 20,000 RMB (or 3,000 USD). Additional help with translation, distribution, and film equipment is

Buenos Aires Festival of Independent Cinema I was able to attend two events last month that showcased the strength, diversity, and vitality of new independent documentaries from China. The first, at BAFICI, the Buenos Aires Festival of Independent Cinema, was a section on recent Chinese independent docs that I curated for the festival. Intended as an abbreviated look back at the past 2 years or so of Chinese indies, I selected eight films (but could easily have chosen twenty)

The Festival announced its awards for the following films (with citations by the jury in quotes): Independent Spirit Award Spiral Staircase of Harbin (dir. Ji Dan) A Harbin apartment complex is home to two broken households and fragile relationships between parents and teenage children in this pensive study of cross-generational conflict. “Through her unadorned, everyday visual angle, the director shows us ordinary real life in China. In its conciseness and depth, the film t

The Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Home of the Chinese Independent Film Archive (Photo courtesy of Iberia Center of Contemporary Art) By Shelly Kraicer Whenever I am interviewed about Chinese independent cinema, the question that comes up more often than anything else is “Can these kind of films be shown in China?” The situation is changing, rapidly, and in substantial ways. The answer used to be “Yes, sort of”. Now, it’s “Yes, most definitely”. Independent films, i.e.