Director, Producer, Writer: Andy Cohen

Co-Director, Producer, Writer: Gaylen Ross

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Hidden 16mm Film Footage Revealed for the First Time after 40 Years

 

After the police forcefully shut down the Stars confrontational art show hung on a park fence, and arrest activist Wei Jingsheng for posting an essay on Democracy Wall, thousands of citizens take to the streets near Tiananmen Square, marching in protest and demanding the right to free speech—the first such demonstration since the Communists seized power. The authorities, provoked and threatened by the foreign media attention, close Democracy Wall, imprison another editor Xu Wenli for over 15 years, and force most of the Stars group (including a young Ai Weiwei) into exile. Recording it all is a daring young filmmaker named Chi Xiaoning. Hidden for decades, footage from these daring acts of rebellion are now featured in Beijing Spring for the first time ever.

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 Official Selection

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  • FIFDH / Geneva, CH / 2021

 • M+ Cinema Disrupted program / Hong Kong / 2021

 • Le FIFA / Montreal, Canada/ 2021 - Jury Award winner

 • Censurados Film Festival / Lima, Peru / 2021

 • EPOS International Art Film Festival / Tel Aviv, Israel / 2021

 • Tokyo Lift-Off Film Festival / Tokyo, Japan / 2021

 • Heartland International Film Festival/ Indianapolis, USA/ 2021

 • Awareness Festival / Los Angeles, USA/ 2021

 • Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival / Los Angeles, USA / 2021

 • Festival Internacional Cinema e Transcendencia / Brasilia / 2021

 • Dart / Barcelona, Spain / 2021 - Best International Documentary Award

 • Beirut Art Film Festival / Beirut, Lebanon / 2021

 • Lo Schermo dell’Arte / Florence, Italy /2021

 • St-Louis International Film festival / St-Louis, USA/ 2021

 • Leeds International Film Festival / Leeds, UK / 2021

 • Aesthetica Films Festival / York, UK /2021

 • Festival des Libertés / Brussels / 2021

 • Lonely Wolf Festival / London / 2021

 • Austin International Art Festival / Austin, Texas / 2021

 • Festival Des Libertés / Brussels, Belgium 2021

 • Boulder International Film Festival / Colorado, USA  2021

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 Awards

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 • Best Feature Documentary Award / Lonely Wolf Festival, London, UK 

 • Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Editing, Archival Usage & Assembly

    Lonely Wolf Festival, London

 • Best International Documentary / Dart Film Festival / Barcelona, Spain 

 • Best Feature Documentary / Austin International Art Festival / Austin, USA

 ª Jury Award Winner / FIFA Montreal, Canada

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