The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. The name of the issuing body has been omitted to protect the source.
Find and delete the article “11th Beijing Independent Film Festival Shut Down” and related content. (August 29)
查删”第十一届北京独立影像展被封杀”以及相关内容。
Police shut down the film festival on its opening day. AP video journalist Hélène Franchineau reported that police “broke my video camera, threw water at reporters, threatened us for filming, grabbed cell phones and yelled at everyone.” Li Xianting, the organizer of the festival, and festival artistic director Wang Hongwei were briefly detained by the police. Film director Huang Wenhai called the shutdown of this year’s film festival “the darkest day in the history of Chinese independent film.”
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.
