RCB Film Club: Ai Wei Wei – Never Sorry
Showtimes: 7, 14, 21 November 2020, 2 p.m. at RCB Forum
Ai Weiwei is China’s most famous international artist and its most outspoken domestic critic. 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.
AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY is the inside story of a dissident for the digital age who inspires global audiences and blurs the boundaries of art and politics. First-time director Alison Klayman gained unprecedented access to Ai while working as a journalist in China. Her detailed portrait provides a nuanced exploration of contemporary China and one of its most compelling public figures.
ALISON KLAYMAN
DIRECTOR, PRODUCER & CINEMATOGRAPHER
AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY is Alison Klayman’s debut feature documentary, which she directed, produced, filmed and co-edited. She is a recipient of the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Broadcasting, and a Special Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The Director’s Guild of America also nominated her for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary. She was a Sundance Documentary Fellow and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” She has been a guest on The Colbert Report, as well as CNN and NPR. Klayman lived in China for four years working as a freelance journalist. She speaks Mandarin and Hebrew, and graduated from Brown University in 2006.
“One of the Top 10 Movies of the Year.”
– David Edelstein’s Top Ten Movies of 2012 and New York Magazine Critic’s Pick
“A galvanizing documentary; An intimate portrait of the artist.” – Manohla Dargis, Giving Voice to a Big-Picture Thinker, Critic’s Pick
“Watching”Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” is like experiencing a thrilling unfinished symphony: The story is enthralling, but it’s not over, and there’s no telling where it’s going. Which makes what we see on screen all the more involving.” Kenneth Turan
“Documentarian Alison Klayman’s prismatic portrait of the artist, ‘Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,’ is a useful primer, though it also focuses a bit more on the activism than on the art. That’s probably because, for its subject, the line between the two is so indistinct.” Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Critics Pick
Awards and Honors:
Special Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival
Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award
Top Five Documentaries of 2012, National Board of Review
Best Storytelling in a Documentary, Nantucket Film Festival
Top Ten Films of the Year, New York Magazine
Critics’ Pick – New York Times, Washington Post
Four Stars – Boston Globe, The Guardian | “A” rating – Entertainment Weekly
News and Documentary Emmys – Best Arts Programming (Nominated)
News and Documentary Emmys – Best Editing (Nominated)
Director’s Guild of America Award – Outstanding Directional Achievement in Documentary (Nominated)
Best Debut Feature, Cinema Eye Awards (Nominated)
Best Production, Cinema Eye Awards (Nominated)
Best Documentary, International Press Academy Satellite Awards, (Nominated)
St. Louis Film Critics Association – Best Documentary Feature Film (2nd place)
Telluride Mountainfilm Festival – Festival Director’s Choice Award
The Hague Movies That Matter – Youth Jury Award
Taiwan International Documentary Festival – Special Jury Mention
15 Festival Internacional de Cine de Derechos Humanos (Buenos Aires) – SIGNIS Award
