When Night Falls

After the debut at the Jeonju festival, Chinese authorities tried to buy the film in order to prohibit its international circulation. The filmmaker’s family was summoned by the police and answered interrogatories. The director is currently living in exile in Hong Kong. A young man, Yang Jia, was arrested and beaten by the police in Shanghai for cycling without a license. After undergoing various pressures, he enters a police station and kills six policemen. He was sentenced to death without trial. This case concerned the Chinese activists and the Ai Weiwei studio even produced a film to denounce this tragic event. When Night Falls tells the story of this real case. Jia’s mother, played by fabulous actress Uma Nei, was detained in a psychiatric hospital for 143 days, so she wouldn’t testify in favor of her son when he got out of prison. What is wrong with this society?” she cries. It’s a question that China doesn’t want to answer. (A. I. S.) “