After serving 81 days in solitary confinement for
"subversion of state power," outspoken artist Ai Weiwei
returns home to Kafkaesque Chinese police surveillance,
house arrest and a new lawsuit. The government
monitors his every move and confiscates his passport
but he refuses to be intimidated or portrayed in any
way except by his own hand and voice. He firmly
believes that "to show you're alive, you have to speak
out," and slowly regains his confidence by finding novel
ways to irritate the authorities despite the restrictions
of his parole. He assembles a sculpture based on his
imprisonment and smuggles it out of the country. He
prepares his defense against the government’s fabricated
tax evasion case while paper airplane donations of
money rain down in his backyard. Ai Weiwei The Fake
Case is a humanizing portrait of a fearless provocateur
willing to end slavery and silence in China by any artistic
means necessary. Angie Driscoll, Hot Docs
In English and Mandarin, with English subtitles.
Make it a double bill! See Ai Weiwei The Fake Case with Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry on May 19, and save! Both films
for only $17 ($12 for Bloor members). - BUY DOUBLE BILL
Media Coverage