The China Independent Film Festival (CIFF), founded in 2003 and usually held each autumn in Nanjing, is one of China’s longest-running and largest annual showcases for independent moving-image work. Through competition, screening, forum, and publication sections, it systematically surveys the year’s landscape of Chinese-language independent film and documentary.

As a major window through which independent cinema reaches the public, CIFF has long attended to experimental work, documentary, and emerging authors. Many films that later traveled to international festivals received early concentrated exposure here. This selection gathers CathayPlay titles that appeared at the festival, tracing the long relationship between this annual platform and Chinese independent cinema.