Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case (Andreas Johnsen; Denmark, 2013)

The Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of Califronia, Berkeley presents the documentary film "Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case" co=sponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies September 5 at 7 p.m.

“A life lived in silence is not a life,” says Ai Weiwei, the vociferous Chinese artist who has challenged the gag order of his homeland. Eighty-one days of solitary detention left him damaged but determined to pursue free expression in a country that finds its power consolidated in the muted masses. The Fake Case follows Ai in the aftermath of imprisonment and a retaliatory lawsuit meant to silence him. Still undaunted, Ai rails against injustice on the Internet and creates his politically inflected art, such as S.A.C.R.E.D., an installation comprising scaled-down replicas of his jail cell.