Ai Weiwei’s Film on Sichuan Quake: New York Debut

“Disturbing the Peace,” a film by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, was shown on Saturday at the Downtown Community Television Center in New York City.  

It was part of a film series called “Contemporary China-ism Showtime.” The series opened with two award-nominated films about the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake that killed about 70 thousand people.

Ai Weiwei and his team were not able to join the panel. Earlier this year, the Chinese regime detained him for 81 days and has since put him under house arrest. 

The documentary follows Ai Weiwei’s unsuccessful attempt to testify in the trial of Tan Zuoren. Tan was an activist who tried to investigate why schools collapsed, killing thousands of children, during the Sichuan earthquake. In 2009, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

The film opens as Ai Weiwei talks with police who are breaking into his hotel room, at 3 am in the morning. 

[Ai Weiwei, Artist]:

"You brought all these cops to beat me? He hit me."

[Policeman]:

"Who hit you? Who saw it?"

[Ai Weiwei, Artist]:

 “Is this how police behave?”

[Policeman]:

"Prove it."

[Jon Alpert, Co-Director, China’s Unnatural Disaster]:

"I think it’s to Ai Weiwei's credit that he is forcing people, he is forcing the government to look at things that they try to keep in the shadows, so I think he is valuable."

Jon Alpert co-directed the other documentary screened on Saturday, “China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province.” It’s about parents who lost their children in the Sichuan earthquake. 

[Jon Alpert, Co-Director, China's Unnatural Disaster]:

"If we hadn’t been going down that road that morning, and met the parents, that story would never have got out."

Among the dead were about 10 thousand children—many of them buried under the ruins of their schools due to careless construction. 

Alpert and his team exposed a story that may have otherwise been left in the dark. 

[Jon Alpert, Co-Director, China's Unnatural Disaster]:

"The Chinese government tried to do everything it could to block this film. When the academy nominations were announced it was really interesting, it was live on state television, and when they announced our film, it went to black."

The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 2010.

NTD News, New York