AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY
Feature Documentary | 91 min | Sundance Film Festival Winner 2012
Director | Producer | Cinematographer | Co-Editor
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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.
"One of the Top 10 Movies of the Year."
- David Edelstein's Top Ten Movies of 2012 and New York Magazine Critic's Pick
"Alison Klayman's documentary is one of the most engagingly powerful movies of the year."
'Ai Weiwei': art and the activist
"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
"A galvanizing documentary; An intimate portrait of the artist." - Manohla Dargis, Giving Voice to a Big-Picture Thinker, Critic's Pick
"Weiwei is the least stuffy of dissidents, and Alison's stirring, important documentary catches his complex humanity." Grade: A
"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
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 Directorial 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
Shortlisted for an Academy Award
Translated into over 26 languages and distributed theatrically and on broadcast around the world
US FESTIVALS (Partial List)
2012 Berkshire International Film Festival
2012 1st Brattleboro Film Festival
2012 deadCENTER Film Festival
2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
2012 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Chicago
2012 Independent Film Festival Boston
2012 Maine International Film Festival
2012 Miami International Film Festival
2012 Milwaukee Film Festival
2012 Mountainfilm in Telluride - Festival Director's Choice Award
2012 Nantucket Film Festival - Best Storytelling in a Documentary Award
2012 Northside Film Festival
2012 NY Human Rights Watch Film Festival - Opening Night Film
2012 Provincetown International Film Festival
2012 San Francisco International Film Festival
2012 Seattle International Film Festival
2012 Silverdocs Film Festival
2012 Sundance Film Festival - Special Jury prize for Spirit of Defiance
2012 Traverse City Film Festival
2012 True/False Film Festival
2012 Virginia Film Festival
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS (Partial List)
2012 Abu Dhabi Film Festival, UAE
2012 Amnesty International Film Festival, Vancouver
2012 Bangkok Design Festival
2012 Berlinale
2012 Brisbane International Film Festival
2012 Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival
2012 DOXA Documentary Film Festival - Closing Night Film
2012 Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, Hong Kong
2012 Hot Docs - Opening Night Film
2012 Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czeck Republic
2012 Melbourne International Film Festival
2012 Milano Film Festival
2012 Movies That Matter Festival - Youth Jury Award
2012 Mumbai International Film Festival, India
2012 New Zealand Film Festival
2012 Passion for Freedom London Festival
2012 Reykjavik International Film Festival
2012 Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival
2012 Sydney Film Festival
2012 Sheffield Doc/Fest
2012 Taiwan Int. Documentary Festival, Taiwan
2012 Tri-Continental Film Festival, South Africa
2012 Zagreb Film Festival, Croatia
Key Photo by the amazing Ted Alcorn