PINGYAO, China — It seemed odd to meet an aspiring director at a film festival who pleaded not to be quoted. He was afraid, he explained, after a discussion about cinema in China veered into censorship and how it affects filmmakers working here.

It is the question hovering over the weeklong festival that opened on Saturday in the ancient walled city of Pingyao: Can you create and showcase independent films in a country that frowns on independence, much less dissent?

“There is a level,” said Sun Liang, another young director, whose experimental film “Kill the Shadow” played on Tuesday after having its international premiere in Montreal in September. “You don’t want to make something too violent or too inappropriate, to go over that level.”