Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case

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Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case

This stunning dissection of the persecution of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei explores how the government’s attempts to silence him have backfired and turned him into an irrepressible voice for free speech and human rights around the globe.

DATE: OCT. 2, 2015

(same as national PBS airdate)

TIME: 5:00 PM

LOCATION: Fort Bragg Branch Library

Watch the trailer at fortbragglibrary.org and learn more about Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case at: www.pbs.org/pov/aiweiwei.

From PBS POV:

Filmmaker Andreas Johnsen’s highly engaging film constantly reminds us that hell hath no fury like government functionaries on the warpath. Ai Weiwei’s drama began in April 2011, when Chinese authorities abducted him and placed him in an isolation cell. His whereabouts were unknown to family and friends, and he was denied legal representation. After three months of constant interrogation he was placed under house arrest for a year. He was also tried on trumped-up charges of tax evasion and pornography — the “fake case” — and heavily fined.

The government’s intention was clear: Silence the artist, whose criticism of the state had become too much for the ruling party to bear. Yet that very muzzle became his megaphone.