By Christine Kearney | Reuters – Sun, Jan 22, 2012 Related Content
Enlarge PhotoDirector Alison Klayman talks to the media before the screening of the film "Ai Weiwei …
Politics slideshowsAriz. Gov. Brewer, Obama face off6 photos - 19 hrs agoRep. Barney Frank marrying longtime partner7 photos - 4 hrs agoFirst Lady Michelle Obama20 photos - Wed, Jan 25, 2012See latest photos » PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - A new documentary film offers a glimpse into the life of Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, conveying a creative, brave, yet humble man who has become more cautious following his 81-day government detention in 2011."Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry," which premiered at the Sundance film festival on Sunday, features interviews China's leading artists and activists and people who surround Ai in is life.
It includes footage that humanizes the man, showing suprising tears from his mother worried about his safety, the artist playing with his young son, and highlights from his projects such as a poor response to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Ai, who was named the world's most powerful artist by U.K-based ArtReview magazine in October since his release, appears in interviews only before his detention, but not after his release.
The 54-year-old bearded, burly Chinese artist wanted to attend the Sundance screening "but felt it was just going to invite too much trouble," the film's director Alison Klayman told the audience after a standing ovation in Park City, Utah, where the festival takes place.
Ai became a symbol for China's crackdown on artists and dissidents when his disappearance and secret detention after battling Chinese authorities sparked an international outcry.
Last November he paid a bond of 8.4 million yuan (then $1.3 million) on a tax evasion charge, which he denies, while his supporters continued to raise the full, combined bill of 15 million yuan (then $2.4 million.)
Klayman spent several years chronicling his rise to prominence and told the audience she believed the detention of the artist, which became a rallying point for China's free speech and other movements, had changed him.
"There was absolutely a change. I really think about it as: there was the time before the detention and there was the time after," she said. "The big thing is that he is constantly changing, he always has been, so I don't know where it is going to end up."
INSIGHT INTO AI
The film offers audiences some insight into Ai's childhood, family, formative time spent living for years in New York and his reasons for often criticizing China's government, which is expressed in many of his contemporary works.
"If you don't act, the danger becomes stronger," says Ai, who had a hand in designing the Bird's Nest stadium at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has had installations at some of the world's major museums including London's Tate Modern Gallery.
"Never Sorry" shows his efforts gathering and listing more than 5,000 names of students who died in the Sichuan earthquake,
pointing to shoddy school construction and claiming that he was punched in the head by police in Sichuan's capital Chengdu.
But it also offers glimpses of a loving father and stoic son rarely publicly separated from his art and activism.
"Every night I can't sleep," his mother, Gao Ying, says to him in the film before breaking down in tears because she is worried she will not see him again.
"We'll endure what we can," he answers calmly, before later calling himself "an eternal optimist."
Klayman, who doubted there would be a public screening of the film in China, told the audience it was clear that being a father had altered Ai's life, too, along with detention.
He seems more careful, she said, when talking about footage in the documentary showing that upon his release, Ai uncharacteristically speaks little to reporters.
"He does have to be a lot more cautious. If this was a year ago he would be here," said Klayman.
(Reporting By Christine Kearney; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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Tremont • 7 hrs ago Ai Weiwei is just the tip of the sword of millions of folks in China who see the hypocrisy and the corruption of those in power. russJ • Indianapolis, Indiana • 3 hrs ago Brave man... Unlike the cowards in this column that are critical him !! WilliamJ • Sacramento, California • 6 hrs ago He may be an artist, but he gains attention by producing profane art and generating awe and shock. BKAAF • Kansas City, Kansas • 3 days ago He made be more well known for his political views than his art which if it had been created in a free society would have barely been noticed. Watt D Fuch • 6 hrs ago Ai Wei Wei can't see his peepee anyway Outsider • Lawrence, Massachusetts • 2 days 11 hrs ago He could be anything but humble - check some facts please. Among 1.3 billion, he can rank below the bottom 1% of not being humble. He is just a crazy guy trying very hard to get attention and money. His talent is his father, a old guard Chinese commi. Think if he is from a different family, and think millions who are more capable than he but got no opportunity. What this "humble" person did for real Chinese people? His art? Time will tell.There are many like him in the past......
ChingChong • 7 hrs ago Did Ai Wei Wei lost his Wee-Wee?? What happened to that fighting spirit?? joshua • 3 days ago Keep buying his arts, they help his motives. Truth Hurts • Willards, Maryland • 3 days ago I just don't understand why can't he work on his art outside of China, now the Chinese government have released him and give him back his passport. The Big Salad • 3 days ago I'm with Ai Weiwei, I'm for safe construction of schools, anti-government corruption, and for free speech. Never give up, Weiwei. frank • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • 2 days 22 hrs ago A man with no sorry is not humble...what a farking crap Ed • 3 days ago Ai WeiWei represents the conscience of China, not the heartless or mindless manner of the current regime and its lackies, in particular the 50 Cent Party that will try to negate anything that deviates from the kleptocracy's point of view. He and Liu Xiaobo just want the government to obey its own constitution. Hu c • Kansas City, Missouri • 3 hrs ago same old, same old things .....chinese dogs are barking all over the issue when being ordered to Kascha_Kwan • Atlantic City, New Jersey • 1 day 16 hrs ago Ai Weiwei's other great films are : ....... " An Inconvenient Full Bladder " , ......... " Who Left The Seat Up ?, " ......" Suzanne Somers Slept Here " ,.... " Next Rest Area, 20 Miles " ..... " Eight Kidney Stones and a Urologist " , " The Soggy Mattress " ....... and my all time favorite ....... " The Yellow Stream " Troll • North Pole, Alaska • 3 days ago He should be come the Dali Lama and hang out in Hollywood! Cool! mb • 3 days ago The Chinese trolls are out in force again today... Intelligent Designer • 3 days ago "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry," that he over ate! KingKong • 3 days ago Wei Wei, Wei! Is it the movie about a pig? Post a comment [[ [['Dekraai', 10]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/mourners-remember-seal-beach-shooting-victims-1318620627-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/3/2c/32c8e92d889f42edb719cb5257afdf4e.jpeg', '461', ' ', 'Reuters/Lori Shepler',],[ [['iPhone 4SXXXXXXX', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/thousands-line-up-for-apple-s-iphone-4s-1318602841-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/f/4f/f4f15e8f6f323f5386dc9fdf9e15dca8.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth',]][ [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], '27013743', '0'],[ [['keyword', 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ]] You on Yahoo! News Your Activity |Social: OFFON Turn Social ONRemind me when I share|Options What is this?Not you? Log out of FacebookHow to remove this experienceLogin with FacebookNews For YouItaly ship captain "wasted precious hour"Drew Carey & Fiancee Call Off EngagementMom Who Lost Kids, Parents in Christmas Fire Attempted Suicide: ReportBrad Pitt Marrying Angelina and Having More KidsShock Over 10th U.S. President’s Grandsons Still LivingMan gets car ban after 4 children found in trunkBill Would Ban Aborted Fetuses in FoodBrewer says she meant no disrespect toward ObamaNASA's 'impossibly beautiful' photo of EarthPelosi: Gingrich Will ‘Never’ Be President, ‘There Is Something I Know’Remake America
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