Overview
- Organizer Zhu Rikun announced on November 6 that the inaugural festival was suspended, halting an event slated for November 8–15 in New York.
- By November 5, about 80% of planned screenings had been canceled after filmmakers withdrew their works.
- Participants reported that Chinese police contacted relatives in China, and a colleague of Zhu in Beijing was taken for questioning and told not to work with him.
- One venue received an anonymous letter urging cancellation, and Human Rights Watch said the case shows Beijing reaching across borders to control expression.
- The episode aligns with a broader clampdown on independent cinema, including past festival shutdowns in China and the January 2025 jailing of documentarian Chen Pinlin.