China wants to suppress independent cinema. But young film-makers are undaunted by red lines

Unless a film is given ‘dragon seal’ approval from communist state officials, it will never be released in China

Class started at 9am. Assignments were doled out, ideas were pitched and scripts written, followed by a long day of shooting and editing. Twelve hours later, 20 aspiring and exhausted film-makers were sat in a crowded, makeshift studio, listening to their work being trashed.

“The content is still too poor,” the course director, Nan Xin, remarked, after watching a two-minute film about boys on the loose who harass a stray dog.