"Never Sorry: Ai Weiwei"

Ai Weiwei is China's most famous international artist, and an extremely outspoken advocate for freedom of speech and government responsibility and reform. Against a backdrop of strict censorship and an unresponsive legal system, Ai expresses himself and organizes people through art and social media. In response, Chinese authorities have shut down his blog, beat him up, bulldozed his newly built studio, and held him in secret detention.


Alison Klayman's fascinating documentary, AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY, records the artist's experiences in his native country,  while telling his story as the son of a poet who was punished duirng the Cultural Revolution (as a child, the artist lived in a labor detention camp with his family), and who lived in New York City in the 1980s, returning home, to make art and advocate for freedom. The film views the artist as he makes art, blogs, confronts secret police, interacts with his family, and ultimately is arrested and held in secret detention (and later released) all in detailed close-up. This is the  intimate, inside story of a "dissident for the digital age" who truly blurs the boundaries of art and politics. Director Klayman gained unprecedented access to Ai while working as a journalist in China. Her detailed portrait provides a complex  view of a  society at once seeking to move its economy forward dramatically, while its government appears to remain in a reactive mode with regard to democratization and social and political freedoms. Emerging amidst this conflict, bringing this dichotomy into stark relief, is the artist Ai Weiwei and the film portrays his story in a highly personal and honest way. The film concludes with the artist's return from detention by the authorities. He is still in protracted legal battles regarding the government's charges against him of "Economic crimes."  Although initially reluctant to speak out after his release, he continues to speak out and challenge the Chinese government's status quo. The ending of this story clearly has not yet been written and likely will continue to unfold for quite some time to come. A must see documentary.

In NYC at the IFC Theater.
More on the film here