Beijing Queer film festival cancelled after harassment from authorities

Beijing’s annual independent queer film festival has been cancelled after what is understood to have been a campaign of sustained harassment from authorities.

Beijing Queer film festival, which was due to begin on Friday in China’s capital, is one of the country’s oldest independent film festivals. Founded in 2001 by a group of Peking University students, the festival grew to become the only film festival in mainland China to offer a public forum for films and discussions exploring LGBTQ+ issues. But it is understood that police had increased pressure on the festival through repeated phone calls in recent weeks.

The Chinese authorities have grown increasingly intolerant of open discussion of feminist or LGBTQ+ issues. Film festivals in particular attract particular scrutiny because they provide an opportunity to platform narratives that sit outside the Communist party’s worldview. Beijing Independent film festival, China’s most prominent independent film festival, was closed down in 2014 after the authorities detained the founders and shut off the electricity supply to the venue. Last year, an independent Chinese film festival that was due to be held in New York was cancelled after harassment from the Chinese authorities, an incident which raised concern about transnational repression.

Hongwei Bao, a professor of Chinese studies at the University of St Andrews who focuses on LGBT issues, said that the festival was “a beacon for LGBT resilience” in China, so the shutdown is going to have a chilling effect for the Chinese queer community. Maya Wang, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said: “The Chinese government under Xi has been relentlessly tightening social and ideological control, and so any activities outside of those sanctioned by the party-state are subjected to intensifying scrutiny and often also official harassment.