• by IPS Correspondents
• Friday, June 15, 2012
• Inter Press Service

Jun 15 (IPS) - Coralie Tripier interviews ALISON KLAYMAN, Director of the documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. UNITED NATIONS, Jun. 15 2012 (IPS) - Ai Weiwei, China’s most famous contemporary artist and activist, is going to have a considerable influence on China’s future, says Alison Klayman, the director of the award-winning documentary Ai Weiwei: Never sorry.

Through his art, Ai Weiwei “is activating others”, underscores Klayman, who is screening her first documentary on Jun. 15 at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival (LINK: http://ff.hrw.org/content/ai-weiwei-never-sorry).

“Transparency is to Ai Weiwei what liberty was to another generation”, says one of Klayman’s interviewees, describing the artist’s battle for more democracy in China.

In an interview with U.N. correspondent Coralie Tripier, Klayman explains why Ai Weiwei, who sees himself as a chess player in his confrontation with the Chinese government, is a powerful artist able to reach many.

The film opens in U.S. theaters nationally on Jul. 27 from Sundance Selects.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What was the main goal of your film? A: From the earliest time of filming with Ai Weiwei, I was very interested in doing an in-depth portrait of Weiwei, one that would be a sort of biography, showing both the activities that he is engaged in and how bold, dynamic and charismatic he is. I wanted to show all the different works of art that he does, and I knew it was going to be a good story... I felt like he deserved a more in-depth investigation and I wanted audiences to get to know him.

I didn’t really know what the message of the film would be at the beginning, but it has definitely become an important documentary that is not just about Ai Weiwei, but also presents another view of China, of universal values, a different way of expression as well as the power of social media (Ai Weiwei uses Twitter to interact with his audience).

Q: When you started filming four years ago, Ai Weiwei didn’t have as much exposure as now. Did you have any idea that Weiwei would become so famous? A: I didn’t think things would get as big as it is when I started.

I knew from the first time I met Ai Weiwei that he was an amazing artist, but when I accompanied him to Germany for his show in Munich’s Haus der Kunst museum and saw the crowd that gathered there, I understood how well-known Weiwei was.

He’s mainly known as a provocateur, but I tried to present him like the chess player that he is in his game with the Chinese government, which reacts to him back and forth.

Q: Did you have any problem with the government while shooting that movie?

A: The truth is, I really did not while I was filming in Beijing every day.

The only thing that proved more difficult was the trip to Chengdu (about 1820 km South West from Beijing), where Weiwei had been beaten up by a policeman, and where we had to get in the police station and the courthouse in order to file a complaint, which was far from easy.

In a way, the biggest challenge that I faced during shooting was indirectly the government because of Weiwei’s captivity (Ai Weiwei was detained in an undisclosed location for 81 days).

The question was to know if he was going to get in any trouble. At the time, we did not know what kind of charges the government was bringing against him and how we were going to finish the film.

Our story got much more complex after that incident and finishing the film was a big responsibility since a lot was at stake.

Q: In an interview with the BBC in October 2011, Ai Weiwei said that he did not feel powerful. Do you agree?

I think that Ai Weiwei is a powerful artist because he is able to reach people, to get people to think, to question, to use their voice. He is activating others, and that’s his power.

I think he said that he had no power in reference to the current context: there is very little transparency in China, very little rule of law, the government is unpredictable, and Weiwei somehow feels that the system is more powerful than him.

Art is one of the only things that can act against the government’s power, and Weiwei has the power to somehow counteract the Chinese system.

Q: Can one artist change China?

A: The question is “can one man change China?”

There are many single individuals who had an impact on China, and I think Weiwei has an incredible influence on a whole generation of people.

A lot is going to happen in China in the next decade and I am convinced that Weiwei’s voice is going to be a part of that, whether it comes directly from him or from his supporters.

© Inter Press Service (2012) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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