We were sad about the (forced) cancellation of the 8th annual China Documentary Week last May--and worried that the same thing would happen to the Beijing Independent Film Festival. But due to the grit of local filmmakers (and perhaps some secrecy as to the venue), the 6th annual Beijing Independent Film Festival is a reality.

From Oct. 15 to Oct. 22, 129 films are being screened in several categories ranging from fiction, documentary, experimental, animation to the mysterious "special" category. Also, a special Africa showcase and a selection of films from documentary director Sato Makoto are intriguing additions to the festival.

In the fiction and documentary category, familiar works like The Ditch, Beijing Besieged by Waste, Shattered and Gas, are being screened alongside new works by younger directors. A Most Beautiful Day records a one-day music festival in Shanghai, while another worth checking out is psychological flickAdult Magazine, directed by Zhao Xianzu.

Experimental filmmaker Zhao Yu explores the rules of physical world in his second work, the Structure of Crystal Ⅱ. His last film Crystal was honored as one of the top 10 experimental films at the Nanjing-based China Independent Film Festival.

All the short animations are between 3 to 20 minutes. City Introduction, by China Academy of Fine Arts graduate Wang Zhan, muses on the meaning of humanity in a modern, industrial world. Unique cartoon The Blue House reflects on human nature via images created with the humble pencil. The three-minute animation Apple Picking tells a simple story through a group of figurines hand-crafted from paper.

Unique to this year of the festival includes the African Showcase with works on China by African filmmakers and a selection of three films from world-renowned documentary director Sato Makoto, including Living on the River Agano, Memories of Agano, and Out Of Place Memories of Edward Said.

The films screened under the "special section" features Wang Chao’s Celestial Kingdom, whose works like The Orphan of Anyang, Days and Nights and Memory of Love were given awards by several major international film festivals. Celestial Kingdom, set in Northern China, centers on an ancient custom of organizing ghost marriages for young, unmarried dead men.

Download the schedule HERE

DETAILS

What: Beijing Independent Film Festival

Where: Please call 8085-6827 for venue information

When: Sat., Oct. 15 to Sat., Oct. 22

Language: Most films in Chinese with Chinese/English subtitles, a few have only Chinese subtitling

Cost: Free

Web: http://site.douban.com/lxtff/