Complex sentence: The film premiered along with Zhang's "Seventeen Years" at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival where it established Zhang's position as a "legitimate" director after years of working independently and often at odds with Chinese authorities.
Split into simpler sentences: The film premiered along with Zhang's "Seventeen Years" at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival. It established Zhang's position as a "legitimate" director after years of working independently from, and often at odds with, the Chinese authorities.