Film festival shut down in Beijing

BEIJING — Chinese authorities blocked an annual independent film festival from opening Saturday, seized documents and films from its organizers’ office and hauled away two event officials. The move against a rare venue where films critical of the government could be screened is seen as a sign that Beijing is stepping up its already tight ideological controls.

Li Xianting, a film critic and founder of the Li Xianting Film Fund, the organizer of the Beijing Independent Film Festival, said police searched his office and confiscated materials he had gathered over more than 10 years. Li and the festival’s artistic director, Wang Hongwei, were later detained by police, their supporters said.

The festival, which began in 2006, has seen severe police obstruction over the past few years, but this year’s crackdown is far more serious, Wang said Saturday.

The shutdown is a sign that Beijing is tightening ideological controls under President Xi Jinping, said Chris Berry, professor of film studies at King’s College London in England.

But Berry said that China has a history of shutting down independent film festivals and that the ill treatment of the Beijing festival does not mark the end of the country’s independent filmmaking, as filmmakers have found more venues in an increasingly diverse environment.

“Let’s not be totally pessimistic,” Berry said.