UNA Westminster: WE THE PEOPLES FILM FESTIVAL #3 The Nobel Laureate who defied Beijing

Liu Xiaobo's long awaited interview adds another dimension to China's celebrations to mark its 70th anniversary

FILMS
“Liu Xiaobo: the man who defied Beijing”
Director: Pierre Haski Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, never ceased to demand a democratic China. He paid the highest price, dying in captivity in July 2017.

In spring 1989, when students occupied Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese literature scholar and outstanding speaker, became one of the movement's mentors. Shortly before the massacre began, on the night of June 3-4, he begged the youth to evacuate the square and went on hunger strike to request the authorities to avoid violence. Immediately arrested, he was sent to a re-education camp. Upon his release, a year and a half later, he chose to remain in China and resist from within, while many of his compatriots opted for exile. Arrested in 2008, for co-signing Charter 08, a program for a democratic transition in China, he was sentenced to eleven years in prison for subverting state power. Still imprisoned in 2010, he could not personally receive the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to him and died in captivity seven years later, in July 2017.

Today, the Chinese regime is making every effort to ensure that Liu Xiaobo's name is forgotten but in 2008, he agreed to a long interview. This serves to frame Pierre Haski’s fascinating portrait of a man who, all his life, fought for his convictions and paid the high price. 59 minutes

“Mointal Ranger”
Director: Ansiqi Li This observational documentary tells the story of a Chinese Russian ranger whose job and mission is to guard the forest on the frontier between China and Kazakhstan. 16 minutes

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https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/we-the-peoples-film-festival-3-the-nobel-laureate-who-defied-beijing-tickets-75136355863