The IndieChina Film Festival was a planned Chinese language independent film festival scheduled to be held in New York City between November 8 to 15, 2025. The festival's inaugural event was cancelled following Chinese government pressure on directors, moderators, and volunteers to withdraw from the festival.
Background The IndieChina Film Festival was to show independently made Chinese films and was curated by Zhu Rikun, a Chinese filmmaker and previous co-founder of the Beijing Independent Film Festival. Zhu subsequently moved to New York City. Echo Xuedan Tang was another curator.
History Over 200 films were submitted to be screened at the 2025 festival, with 31 selected. Cui Zi'en was to be the tribute honoree.
Films selected included:
Seafood (opening film) Butter Lamp
Cancellation On November 5, the festival's curator Zhu Rikun announced on Facebook that he had to cancel 80% of the planned screenings as a result of filmmakers' withdrawals.
Reaction
Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, wrote that the festival's cancellation was an "act of transnational repression" in a statement published on November 6, 2025.
References