Named by ArtReview as the most powerful artist in the world, Ai Weiwei is
China's most celebrated contemporary artist, and its most outspoken domestic
critic. In April 2011, when Ai disappeared into police custody for three
months, he quickly became China's most famous missing person.
First-time director Alison Klayman gained unprecedented access to the
charismatic artist, as well as his family and others close to him, while
working as a journalist in Beijing. In the years she filmed, government
authorities shut down Ai's blog, beat him up, bulldozed his newly built
studio, and held him in secret detention--while Time Magazine named him a
runner-up for 2011's Person of the Year. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at
Sundance 2012, Klayman's compelling documentary portrait is the inside story
of a passionate dissident for the digital age who inspires global audiences
and blurs the boundaries of art and politics.
"Superstar artist-activist Ai Weiwei remains elusive on film -- until now. With incredible access, Alison Klayman presents a significant introduction in 'Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.'"
-Peter Debruge, Variety
"Fearless... An affecting, clear-eyed portrait of an artist under a very literal, and still ongoing, siege."
-Diane Vadino, Nylon
"Definitive. Comes at a crucial moment for the media-savvy artist. Will be as much of an embarrassment to the Beijing government as it is a tribute to its subject. Ai Weiwei emerges as more than the hero and martyr of the week."
-David D'Arcy, Screen International
AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY
A film by Alison Klayman | 90 Minutes
Not Yet Rated | A Sundance Selects Release
#RaiseYourFinger
Drawing inspiration from Weiwei's famous photographs (from his exhibition "Fuck Off") giving the bird to symbols of injustice in his homeland (Tiananmen Square, the Birdsnest Olympic Stadium), we are launching a campaign in the artist's honor which calls users to "#RaiseYourFinger" and share a digital protest. We are calling the artists, activists and dissidents- or even the mildly annoyed - of our own homeland to to submit photos of themselves raising their middle finger to various "injustices" within our society—including things as controversial and powerful as Wall Street or as playful and harmless as an annoying meme. The photos collected from participants in this campaign will be assembled into a larger photo mosaic, which will be presented to Ai Weiwei via the social media networks he is active daily in, as a tribute upon his June 22 release from limited house arrest.
Participants should submit their digital protest by uploading to the official AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY Facebook page (facebook.com/awwneversorry), or by tweeting and tagging "@AWWNeverSorry #RaiseYourFinger."
