Exclusive: Chinese delegation pulls out of Doc/Fest

June 13, 2012 by Adam Benzine

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

A delegation of 10 Chinese commissioning editors has pulled out of attending Sheffield Doc/Fest at the last minute, after the UK festival refused demands from the Chinese Embassy in London to drop Alison Klayman’s doc Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (pictured) from its program, realscreen understands.

The delegation was due to include execs from CCTV, CETV, Phoenix TV and the Golden Eagle Documentary Channel, and was billed in pre-festival material as “the first-ever group of Chinese delegates… at Doc/Fest, including controllers from all the major documentary channels.”

Two ‘meet the commissioners’ conference sessions were due to take place during the festival this week, in a bid to help Western producers and commissioners learn about working and coproducing with China.

It is understood, however, that when the Chinese embassy in London learned that Never Sorry and Steve Maing’s High Tech, Low Life were part of the screening program, it contacted Doc/Fest directly, demanding that the screenings be cancelled.

Campbell Glennie, Doc/Fest’s marketing and business director, told realscreen: “On the day before the festival opened, our office received a phone call from the Chinese Embassy in London directly asking us to cancel the screenings of Ai Weiwei, which I said was something we could not do.”

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy did not respond to requests for comment at press time.

Talking to realscreen, Sheffield Doc/Fest director Heather Croall added: “Officially we have been told that the reason they cancelled is related to a restriction on the number of travel trips they can make to Europe. Unofficially though, there were a number of difficult conversations regarding films we are screening in our program that are critical of the Chinese Government. We thought we had found a way to have the delegation and the films.

“So we are very disappointed that the Chinese delegation will now not be attending the festival, but we remain very hopeful that they will attend in future. Chinese filmmakers, distributors and commissioners will always be welcome at Doc/Fest.”

In addition, Hussain Currimbhoy, film programmer at Sheffield Doc/Fest, told realscreen: “Editorial independence is critical to the Sheffield Doc/Fest program, so allowing any delegation of any kind to have influence on the film program is an idea that we could never contemplate.

“We air documentaries which turn the lens on the Chinese way of life, just as we have films which examine the American, British, Russian and Canadian establishments. Examining different world cultures is a key part of any documentary film festival.”

Among the Chinese commissioners due to join the delegation were Chen Hong, the head of documentary channel China Education Television (CETV); Liu Wen, controller of CCTV Channel 9; Tian Yuan, head of production at CCTV Channel 9; Chen Yang, MD of the Hunan Broadcast Television Golden Eagle Documentary Channel; and Lei Wei, controller of Chongqing Science and Education Channel.

Never Sorry, the debut documentary from Alison Klayman, looks at the life of the titular Chinese dissident artist; while High Tech, Low Life looks at how Internet users in China are harnessing the power of social networking sites like Twitter to bypass censorship of the Chinese media.

It is understood the delegation may now attend Sunny Side of the Doc instead. That event, which takes place June 26-29 in La Rochelle, France, only features a conference element and does not screen films.

Doc/Fest has replaced tomorrow’s (June 14) ‘Meet China’s Documentary Commissioners’ session with a session from BBC ‘Storyville’ editor Nick Fraser, discussing the thinking behind his forthcoming book, Why Documentaries Matter.

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry had its world premiere at Sundance in the United States in January, and its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs in Toronto in April, where it served as festival opener. Check out the trailer for the film below:

Tags: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, CCTV, CETV, Doc/Fest, Heather Croall, High Tech Low Life, Sheffield Doc/Fest

Mediamoversnews

Cowards. I hope the individuals – Chen Hong, the head of documentary channel China Education Television (CETV); Liu Wen, controller of CCTV Channel 9; Tian Yuan, head of production at CCTV Channel 9; Chen Yang, MD of the Hunan Broadcast Television Golden Eagle Documentary Channel; and Lei Wei — were all forced by their government to take this cowardly step. I wish they’d had the guts to stand up for free speech, but that’s probably too much to ask given the repression they live under.
Mediamoversnews

Cowards. I hope the individuals – Chen Hong, the head of documentary channel China Education Television (CETV); Liu Wen, controller of CCTV Channel 9; Tian Yuan, head of production at CCTV Channel 9; Chen Yang, MD of the Hunan Broadcast Television Golden Eagle Documentary Channel; and Lei Wei — were all forced by their government to take this cowardly step. I wish they’d had the guts to stand up for free speech, but that’s probably too much to ask given the repression they live under.
Steve Warne

Actually, Sunny Side does screen a limited number of docos, which are often quite controversial.
I wonder if they are screening anything about China. Go their web site to find out …
http://www.postlinearity.com gregorylent

am sure the delegation would prefer shopping anyway.

china is such a childish country at times
guest1

“Editorial independence is critical to the Sheffield Doc/Fest program, so allowing any delegation of any kind to have influence on the film program is an idea that we could never contemplate…”and yet every day we let broadcasters and advertizers directly influence the content, style and script of our western docs. We make docs because they rate, we sledom make the docs we really want to make because our own individual editorial independance is constantly being influenced by others.roll on the band wagon of discontent about countries and cultures you can’t understand
http://zuo.la/ Zola

声明：我当然不希望《高科技低生活》取消在在英国的谢菲尔德电影节参展，我觉得电影节应该尊重每一个参展单位，不能因为中国大使馆抗议就屈服于中国，如果屈服就是中国大使馆赤祼祼的干涉电影节，这是喧宾夺主，没有道理。如果电影节主办方对STEVE施加压力，我们也要抗议。
Dave

It’s good to see the festival standing up for itself. Unlike Edinburgh film festival wHich famously pandered to the Palestine solidarity campaign.
tojanhorse

It’s important to understand that with the possible exception of Phoenix TV, all broadcasters withdrawing from the festival are part of the propaganda system of the Communist Party of China. The “cowards” are all under the direct control of the Central Propaganda Department, and do not have any editorial independence. They are Party apparatchiks totally committed to the CPP’s Leninist propaganda strategy, in which the means are justified by the ends. The idea that they were somehow cowardly in refusing to cancel their participation in the festival misses this point.
China’s propaganda is not really that mysterious. If you want understand it, just buy a copy of Anne-Marie Brady’s 2008 study Marketing Dictatorship. The nonsense about China being a culture which we cannot understand is just that.
Cherelle Zheng

it is not eay to kiss the buttock of China,some westerners wish the Chinese may get invovled with the international documentary industy for money reason since the budget in west has been reduced recently.i think this case is a good lesson for both side.Chinese professionals from the sate-owned broadcasters need to learn some common sense, and meanwhile the international professionals have to give up their illusion on China.
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guest

A Chinese delegation of broadcasters was at Hot Docs 2012 and Ai Weiwei was screened.
Why didn’t they pull out? Does anybody out there know?
Cherelle Zheng

there were 3 people (one of 3 is Liu Wen)from CCVT at Hot Docs 2012 and they just flashed at the spot for couple minutes and disapeared.most of Chinese peole like them have never experienced the real documentary film festival and they havent even known what the film festival is.most of them think the film festival looks like a party run by the controller of the government as them in their poor film experience.
Arman

BOYCOTT CHINESE GOODS AND PRODUCTS
Scenarioprod

Well done Sheffield Doc/Fest!!