China's Artful Dissident

2019 • 57 minutes

About this movie

On the 30th anniversary of the June 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, CHINA’S ARTFUL DISSIDENT shadows a Chinese political artist in exile as the artist clandestinely protests China’s abuse of human rights and its cover-up of the horrific slaughter of innocent students in 1989. Inspired by Tank Man – the lone protestor who stared down a convoy of Red Army tanks in Tiananmen – the artist travels the globe meeting survivors and fellow dissidents who share powerful first-hand testimonies. Like Banksy, the artist remains incognito, but unlike Banksy his life and that of his family are at stake, as the Chinese authorities – desperate to prevent his political art breaching their Great Firewall – close in on his identity. As the global balance of power shifts from America to China in the 21st century, CHINA’S ARTFUL DISSIDENT shines a timely spotlight on Beijing’s continued whitewashing of the Tiananmen massacre and subsequent human rights abuses.