Quick portrait of a committed artist, Ai Xiaoming
I met Ai Xiaoming in Paris at the festival Shadows organized by one of my students. I then invite the opportunity to give a conference that has excited the public. I revised Hong Kong during the first festival of independent Chinese documentary film where she won first prize with his colleague and friend of Hu Jie .
Ai Xiaoming is part of the "public intellectuals" ( GongGong zhishifenzi ) , as they say in China today. In fact, in the French tradition, particularly that of Simone de Beauvoir, one could call "engaged intellectual" in that it does not hesitate to intervene in public debate. She is not engaged in dubious battle for a radiant utopia, but very simply and courageously in a struggle every day to defend the rights of women and men of Chinese victims of injustices. It operates through writing or speech, whether on the Internet or responding to interviews, but about six years, it does so mainly through documentary films that she realizes, alone or in collaboration with independent filmmaker Hu Jie , which was the initiator in this field. In this sense, one should speak of her as an "engaged artist".
She claims because his commitment to cinema. For her, the image is above the concept of emotion by the load it carries, the truth of faces whose expressions reflect better than any words of motivation and feelings of people. And emotions are always very present, because Ai Xiaoming will always investigate the issues most painful and most socially significant, whether of violence against women, peasants, victims of tainted blood, villagers that the right to legally get rid of a corrupted frame is refused or parents of child victims of the schools in cardboard (or " soy cheese) during the earthquake in Sichuan. This teacher-looking rather frail and sweet goes on site in places the most "sensitive" to understand and be understood. We are then plunged into the sets and the lives we could never have imagined, with their individuality, their specific type ethnological sometimes, but through them, we find evidence of human emotions that affect us and make us understand the dramatic situations and injustices experienced by these people.
By conducting and disseminating a totally independent documentaries, Ai Xiaoming seeks to assert itself as a citizen and help others to be as citizens, not subjects obedient or passive consumers. This movement of independent documentary is often linked to human rights ( weiquan ) which include Guo Jianmei and thousands of other lawyers. All of these committed intellectuals are the formation of a genuine civil society that could assert its existence and dignity against the power politics. This fight started since Mao's death is difficult and suffered many setbacks. Still, it progresses slowly, thanks to the courage of some citizens and the erosion of fear. But that progress is irreversible, it is essential there exists a social memory. Documentaries Ai Xiaoming just have the ambition to contribute to this memory. In a July 2008 interview, she said:
"The social memory is a prerequisite for the establishment of values. When a company prepares to solve problems, it is particularly in need of memory when it does not intend to solve problems, it needs oversight. A society in which changes fermentation are needed to revisit its history in order to clarify its own values, set goals and to rebuild the collective imagination. Mais quand elle n'est pas dans cet état d'esprit, ceux dont la fonction est d'enregistrer la réalité peuvent apparaître comme des ennemis. To some people you become spoilers. They want to put people to sleep and you wake up, they need to hide and show yourself. The conflict is so acute. You can write without going there. This is not the case when you shoot. When you exit the camera, the situation can be dangerous, you can become the target of attacks. " Ai Xiaoming explained that the situation is more delicate than the victims who are unable to defend themselves against local despots, particularly wish you to help by testifying for them. Now, helping others to defend their rights is a natural duty. Ai Xiaoming concluded thus: "I hope that the State, as required by the Constitution, respects and protects human rights'. Thus, when we will protect those rights, we can enjoy the pleasure of helping others, without needing a special courage. ( Tianxia , 11/7/2008)
Alas, it takes courage especially in China today, to do what Ai Xiaoming , and there is a price to pay. Not to mention the risk of violence by thugs employed by local officials (as seen in Taishicun ) , being under the constant gaze of the political police is fairly painful. In the same interview, said she has stopped writing a diary or write down her memories of travel, simply because she did not want to make a report to specialized services. It is also tiring to discover that some e-mails have already been read when you receive them or they were deleted. But it is a price Ai Xiaoming is ready to accept if it can continue to do what is her passion, making documentary films.
Some Westerners, including some China experts will tell you that 'the Chinese' by its culture, as we are not interested in freedom, it adapts well to an authoritarian regime. If this were the case, we do not see why the power should rot in jail for eleven years an intellectual Liu Xiaobo , which has that propose a project with other abstract political liberalization, imitated the Charter 08 Charter 77. We do not see why it should prohibit Ai Xiaoming to travel abroad on the grounds of a law article that refers to a "risk to national security." Ai Xiaoming is not a terrorist is a very ordinary woman and totally non-violent, but defended with skill and courage of the universal values that do not need passports to cross borders. Today, through his films, it is present among us and I sent him my friendly hello, she will undoubtedly get.
Michel Bonnin
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