Beijing’s annual independent queer film festival has been cancelled after what is understood to have been a campaign of sustained harassment from authorities.

Beijing Queer film festival, which was due to begin on Friday in China’s capital, is one of the country’s oldest independent film festivals.

In a statement posted on Instagram late on Thursday, the organisers said: “We regret to inform you that the Love Queer Film Week … has been cancelled. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience and disappointment that the cancellation of this event may cause to those who planned to participate or had been looking forward to the film week.”

Police had increased pressure on the festival through repeated phone calls in recent weeks, it is understood.

Founded in 2001 by a group of Peking University students, the festival grew to become the only film festival in mainland China to offer a public forum for films and discussions exploring LGBTQ+ issues.

The Chinese authorities have grown increasingly intolerant of open discussion of feminist or LGBTQ+ issues. Film festivals in particular attract particular scrutiny because they provide an opportunity to platform narratives that sit outside the Communist party’s worldview.

Beijing Independent film festival, China’s most prominent independent film festival, was closed down in 2014 after the authorities detained the founders and shut off the electricity supply to the venue. Last year, an independent Chinese film festival that was due to be held in New York was cancelled after harassment from the Chinese authorities, an incident which raised concern about transnational repression.

Maya Wang, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said: “The Chinese government under Xi has been relentlessly tightening social and ideological control, and so any activities outside of those sanctioned by the party-state are subjected to intensifying scrutiny and often also official harassment.

“The authorities have put more pressure on what little is left of China’s civil society, as well as the LGBT communities and independent film-makers. A queer film festival basically faces all of these overlapping pressures.”

Hongwei Bao, a professor of Chinese studies at the University of St Andrews who focuses on LGBT issues, said that the festival was “a beacon for LGBT resilience” in China.

“The shutdown of the Love Queer Cinema Week has a chilling affect on the Chinese queer community,” Bao said.

In June this year, screenings of films with LGBTQ+ themes that were scheduled to be held in Beijing during Pride month at the Institut Français, a French cultural centre, were cancelled because of police harassment.

Despite the increased pressure, Beijing Queer film festival remains a popular event. Several international film-makers whose work had been selected for the festival had travelled to China to participate. Last year, the festival received 200 volunteer applications, four times the number received in 2024.

Beijing’s public security bureau could not be reached for comment.