Transnational repression at the IndieChina Film Festival
Some distressing news from New York: a festival of independent Chinese films scheduled for November 2025 has been crippled by Chinese government threats against participants and others connected with them, including their families. Here’s a report from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/07/indiechina-independent-film-festival-new-york-cancelled-china-pressure-directors
Below is the text in Chinese, followed by a Google translation (reviewed and modified here and there by me), of an announcement posted on Facebook by the organizer, Zhu Rikun. It’s quite a story. The Chinese government seems to have really pulled out all the stops to prevent this festival from going ahead, all without a word to Zhu about what he was supposed to have done wrong. But that’s how repression works in China (and similar places): it’s your job to tell the authorities what you did wrong and get back in their good graces. After all, they wouldn’t have taken action if you hadn’t done anything wrong, right?
这是要对我发起一场国际级的“战争”吗？
2025年10月30日星期五纽约时间凌晨5点左右，接到我父亲的电话。他问我好不好，有没有在外面做什么不好的事情。他的声调很奇怪，我马上意识到有什么事情发生了。他问他什么人找他了吗？他说没有。只是说不要在外面做对国家不好 的事。
随后，北京借助我工作室的一位女士，平时帮我处理一些在那边的简单杂事的，也告诉我被有关部门带去，威胁不要帮我做任何事情，说我的事情有问题，等我回国了一定要法办我。这些事她也是被要求转告到我并回复那边确认我已经知悉。
接下来两天，我们IndieChina Film Festival电影节的工作邮箱，收到基本上所有还在中国境内的导演的来信，声称因为各种个人的原因，取消她/他们来纽约参加电影节的行程，并且要求我们马上撤销其影片的放映，不能在电影节上放映，甚至有的人要求删除掉所有跟影片有关的资料和宣传，包括之前在社交媒体或者其它地方发布的。
然后是在美国，在欧洲，在非洲的导演，然后是包括参加论坛组织或者讨论的嘉宾，然后甚至是包括主持映后讨论的外部人士，她/他们在中国的家属都受到调查或者干扰。
至今，80%以上的影片的放映被迫取消。一些论坛等相关活动无法进行。我们进行了大量的退票。许多计划来参加电影节的人的行程甚至经济受到了影响。
我们放映的场地之一，收到匿名的号称“一群生活在纽约的中国学生”来信，声称场地将要放映的影片“可能无法准确反映当代中国社会的真实情况”，要求对方取消我们的活动。
在美国协助我工作的志愿者也因为家人受到威胁而辞去所有的职务。目前所有的事情皆只能我个人来处理。邮箱中尚有大量的要求各种处理的邮件我无法处理，单单之前将近40部影片的导演和相关的后续——撤销、退票、善后，就可能需要无法估算的工作量。
至今没有任何部门或者个人联系或者告知我，具体是因为什么原因，或者我犯了何种罪行，而导致这系列事件的发生。
按照计划，我们电影节应该是这个周六下午3点就开幕。离现在只有3天的时间。
而我，还不知道这究竟是为什么！
Is this an attempt to launch an international “war” against me?
On Friday, October 30, 2025, at around 5 a.m. New York time, I received a call from my father. He asked how I was doing and if I had done anything wrong. His tone was strange, and I immediately realized something was wrong. He [apparently a typo for “I”] asked if anyone had contacted him. He said no. He just told me not to do anything bad for the country.
Subsequently, a woman from my studio in Beijing, who usually helped me with some simple chores there, also told me that she had been taken away by relevant departments and threatened not to do anything for me, saying that there was something wrong with my case and that they would definitely prosecute me when I returned to China. She was also asked to relay these things to me and reply to confirm that I was aware of them.
Over the next two days, our IndieChina Film Festival email inbox received messages from virtually all the directors still in China, claiming that for various personal reasons they had canceled their trip to New York for the festival and asking that we immediately withdraw their films from screening so that they could not be shown at the festival. Some even asked that we delete all materials and promotions related to their films, including those previously published on social media or elsewhere.
Then, directors in the US, Europe, and Africa, along with guests participating in forums or discussions, and even external figures moderating post-screening discussions, have all had their families in China investigated or harassed.
To date, over 80% of film screenings have been cancelled. Some forums and related events have been unable to take place. We have processed numerous ticket refunds. Many people who planned to attend the film festival have had their travel plans and even their finances affected.
One of the venues where we were screening films received an anonymous letter from someone claiming to be “a group of Chinese students living in New York,” stating that the films to be screened “may not accurately reflect the true situation of contemporary Chinese society,” and demanding that they cancel our event.
The volunteers who assisted me in the US also resigned from all their positions due to threats against their families. Currently, I have to handle everything myself. My inbox is overflowing with emails requesting various solutions that I cannot process. Just dealing with the directors of the nearly 40 films and related follow-ups—cancellations, refunds, and other cleanup—will likely involve an incalculable amount of work.
To date, no department or individual has contacted or informed me of the specific reasons or what crime I committed that led to this series of events.
Our film festival was scheduled to open this Saturday at 3 PM. There are only three days left.
And I still don’t know why!