Petition (Director’s Cut)
CHINA / 2009 / Chinese / Color / Blu-ray (SD) / 315 min
Part 1: The Masses (104 min)
Part 2: Mother and Daughter (111 min)
Part 3: Beijing South Railway Station (100 min) *10 min breaks
Director, Photography: Zhao Liang
Executive Producers: Zhao Liang, Sylvie Blum
Editing: Zhao Liang, Shun Zi, Kong Jinglei
Sound Editing and Mix: Laurent Thomas
Source: Zhao Liang
For hundreds of years, common people from far flung reaches of China have traveled to the center to petition the seat of power, whether it be the emperor or the party. In the age of Communism, these poor people dodge corrupt local officials and their thugs to petition their case in Beijing. Zhao Liang’s astounding decade-long study of this phenomenon is one of the most powerful films of independent Chinese documentary.
Zhao Liang
Born 1971 in Dandong, China. Graduated 1992 from Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts. Zhao Liang’s filmography includes the documentaries Farewell to Yuanmingyuan (1995), Paper Airplane (2001), Crime and Punishment (2007), and Together (2010), as well as the short films Jerks Don’t Say Fuck (2000) and City Scene (2005). His solo exhibitions as a visual artist include the Walker Art Center (2010) and Documenta Madrid (2012). He is widely exhibited around the world at art, video, and photography venues. He has been based in Beijing since 1993. The 124-minute version of Petition premiered at Cannes.