Abstract:  Since the midnineties of the 20th century, the four elements of china′s urban filmsart, politics, capital and marginality have negotiated and compromised with one another centering on domestic and international “market”, leading to the topography of artistic film, mainstream film, entertainment film and independent film. Independent film, which is focused in this article, acquires the features of authenticity and marginality. Authenticity enables producers to follow urban realistic and documentary techniques, while marginality pursues truth and privileges, striving for lowbudget fiscal assistance from nongovernmental or overseas organizations. Those capital and political powers once hostile to independent films started to offer economic assistance selectively after the later period of the nineties. Different from their predecessors, the producers of new independent films since 1990s have developed an “ambiguous and symbiotic relationship” with power organs, commercial fashions and international artistic film market. They become elastic, avoiding confrontation with state system and capital so as not to be devoured by them. Urban realism, documentary techniques and evideos record the new reality and people in the bottom of society by flexibly employing “nonprofessional actors” and “professional nonactors”.

Key words:  urban cinema, independent cinema, urban realism, identificati, documentary