The Beijing Independent Film Festival () is an annual independent film festival in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It has a history of being challenged by the Chinese authorities. The organizer of the event is the Li Xianting Film Fund, founded by

Li Xianting Li Xianting (; born 1949 in Jilin) is an independent art critic and curator of contemporary Chinese art in China. Graduated from Chinese Painting Department, Central Academy of Fine Art in 1978, he became the editor of Fine Art Magazine until 19 ...

. The executive director is Fan Rong. The 11th edition of the festival, scheduled to run from Saturday 23 August 2014 until the end of the month did not open, after police detained the organizers and forced them to write a letter to say they were cancelling the event. Police blocked off access to the site, while electricity to the venue was cut off. Organizers said the local authorities had been unhelpful in the days leading up to the festival's opening and pressure had been brought to bear for the event not to proceed. It was understood by the organizers that the government was concerned the festival would be used as a forum to criticize the government.

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