The China Independent Film Festival and Chinese Independent Film Festivals: Self-Legitimization and Institutionalization

Abstract

Yu and Wu use the China Independent Film Festival (CIFF) to scrutinize the process of self-legitimization and institutionalization on the independent film festival scene in response to their non-state-sanctioned status and the constant interference from the authorities, and to reveal the role that the state as censor and policymaker has played in the emergence and development of independent film festivals. By discussing CIFF’s various strategies in order to survive and develop in a coercive political climate, and its contribution to the popularization of independent films and the cultivation of independent film criticism, they argue that Chinese independent film festivals have created an alternative public sphere in a restricted social environment, effectively sustaining the seemingly unsustainable independent film circle.