Don’t call ‘cut’ on independent cinema

Power was cut midway through a movie screening at the opening ceremony of the 9th Beijing Independent Film Festival on Saturday. The festival has in the past come under pressure from authorities, who last year canceled it entirely citing a "tense overall situation."

I don't see how these festivals encounter such problems. Surely, organizers can sit down with authorities and discuss the festival's plans before it takes place. This would allow concerns about certain movies to be raised and more detailed planning to take place.

It would also avoid the embarrassment of having the festival shut down before it even begins. Equally, I don't understand why authorities would permit the festival only to shut it down as soon as it starts. It all smacks of poor communication.

It's strange there would be any pressure for such an event, given that it's a festival run quite responsibly and with a real affection for the arts. It might be difficult to get approval for the festival because of some of the sensitive content in the movies, particularly regarding social problems.

However, it would probably pay for festival organizers to work more closely with authorities to get a proper license and hold the event more openly. It's also possible organizers felt this simply wasn't plausible.

While authorities might feel "tense" about the content of some movies, they need to appreciate the cultural and commercial value of such independent films. Independent filmmaking is an excellent way of addressing social concerns in a relatively non-confrontational manner.

Furthermore, independent filmmaking is a breeding ground of tomorrow's commercial directors. Hollywood has seen some of its best directors in recent decades emerge from independent roots.

Independent filmmaking and its exponents, such as Francis Ford Coppola, saved a lot of the old Hollywood studios in the 1970s by showing a new model for success and reviving the studio system. Independent filmmaking brought us Easy Rider (1969) and helped launch the careers of both Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson.

Beijing should be embracing independent cinema. This is where China can unearth innovative directors, actors, producers and writers who can help to push the domestic film industry to the next level.

If China merely relies on a few well-known filmmakers to lead the charge towards international success, we could start to see bland repetition in storytelling in mainstream Chinese cinema.

While the festival being canceled isn't a good thing, perhaps even sadder is the fact that only a few hundred people attended it this year. All countries should look to support independent filmmaking to make sense of the world around them.