NanfuWang

I haven’t been back to China since the film was released. There’s a risk that the government could retaliate in some way, either by detaining me when I arrive, by harassing me with interrogations, or by preventing me from leaving the country after I return. I will only find out until I try. I feel safe in the US for the time being, but I believe no place will be safe if people do not stand up against injustice.

It's time for me to sign off for now. Thanks for all the great questions. I’m heading out to our screening in LA today. If you’re in the city, please come join me at Museum of Tolerance.

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Wang Yu was arrested in July 2015, formally charged with state subversion in February 2016. After extensive global news coverage and appeals from international NGOs calling for her release, Chinese authorities forced Wang Yu to perform a "confession" on national TV. But she has not been seen since and is assumed to be held in a secret prison, without legal representation, and without ever having stood trial.

Yes. When I showed Ye Haiyan (AKA hooligan sparrow) a rough cut of the film almost two years after I shot it, she said she was amazed how her memory had filtered out of some of the painful moments, but watching the film reminded herself again all the things she had tried to forget. She was shocked by how much she had gone through and yet she was really glad that they were documented. Her daughter Yaxin said, “It will take many books to tell what I went through in just a few weeks.”

Interesting question. According to the Chinese law, nothing I did was illegal. I have the right to film in public, the right to freedom of expression, yet I was harassed for filming a public protest on the street; I was interrogated for trying to make a documentary. "Could I go to jail for smuggling the footage?" It depends on whom you ask. For me, I shouldn't have to "smuggle" the footage out in the first place. I'm sure they're aware of the film, given that they had questioned me, and contacted my family and the people in the film.