Downloaded from YTS.MX
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[ominous instrumental]
[bell chiming rhythmically]
[Christine] Oh, oh, oh, yeah.
That is the problem.
How the fuck am I gonna explain to anybody where I'm from?
It's so complicated.
Homeless. It's philosophical homeless.
-Exile. -[man] One take one mark.
Uh, what it means
[speaking Chinese]
I said I-- my name is Christine Choy.
I'm a half and half.
Half Chinese, half Korean,
and now I live in America.
The United States of the beast.
[soft music playing]
[Christine] How do I describe myself?
Fuck you. You can describe me.
I am a thinker...
but not a very conventional thinker.
I am a filmmaker,
but not a conventional filmmaker.
I'm a professor,
definitely, I am not a conventional professor!
Hallelujah.
[Todd] I first met Christine obviously at NYU.
I took her class
and I always remember the first thing she did.
First of all, she smokes in class back then.
In the classroom, which have no windows
and she has always a drink with her
that is, you learn later, is vodka on the rocks.
[Christine] We were all young. Young and crazy.
-Really young and crazy. -She's particularly crazy.
[Christine] But I was a pretty good teacher.
[Todd] She walked in and goes,
"First rule about documentary film:
Lie to everyone."
I've known her since she was before dirt.
Christine did a documentary every year.
Every year!
[woman] Filmmaker Christine Choy.
-[man] Christine Choy. -[woman] Christine Choy.
There's some things that have statute of limitations
and some things don't.
But I can tell you that
Christine would come into the Black Panther party office,
she eventually became a member of our chapter
because she provided all the films for free.
Power to the people!
She had a huge influence on me, in my life.
[footsteps approaching]
I mean, are you gonna walk around
and, like, patter around?
-I'm just leaving. -Okay.
-It's crazy. -[Christine] I'll be back.
["I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by The Kings of Vegas plays]
Stay on this one.
-[indistinct] -[Christine] Yay!
I would describe Christine Choy
as a loudmouth...
skinny...
combative, very Chinese.
[Todd] You would be failing a movie about Christine,
if you don't get the sort of whirlwind,
Tasmanian devil energy of Christine, you know.
[Atno] She does have Marxist-Leninist ways,
but she acts like a queen.
She's a diva.
What do we export in the United States?
Wheat, weapon, and movies.
-[man] Where did it go wrong? -Everything.
[Jodi] I would put in all her activism
'cause that's an important part of her
and I think that's an important part
for the Asian American community.
You know, I think her filmmaking style
is actually like she is.
It's very confrontational.
[ominous instrumental playing]
[Cynthia] Oppression spreads over a wide range,
but I don't think there's any oppression
like the oppression that's now.
Because this is like reverting back to slavery days.
Instead of bringing us over on a boat,
they bring us from a jailhouse.
Instead of bringing us from Africa,
they're bringing us from Harlem and the Bronx,
but it's all the same game.
[Jodi] She really looks for the injustice
and how do we change that, or how do we expose that,
so that maybe something can change.
[upbeat music playing]
[Christine] Sound, camera, action.
♪
[reporter] Donald Trump took an oath as president
of the United States of America.
[Christine] It doesn't make sense anymore.
What-- Donald Trump as a president?
I mean, theoretically, I think, it's the correct way to do it,
but strategically, I think we're way behind.
Marching is not gonna do too much.
[woman] What do you think we should do?
-Kill him. -[woman laughs]
[Christine] Yeah. A woman sniper.
I love commercial films because they make me cry.
Actually, why I'm interested in films.
You know, there was a film, when I was South Korea,
it's called A Summer Place.
And I was so in love with their love relationship.
You smell so good.
I washed my hair for you.
[Christine] I didn't even understand English.
Just watched the movies, you know?
And I thought America was so beautiful.
Everybody's blonde. Everybody's in love.
Everybody parties all the time. Everybody dresses to kill.
Everybody got perfect body.
Everybody's on the beach with Malibus.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
And then I got to this country,
I said, "What happened?
These Black people, where'd they come from?"
Sundance, when I was here years ago,
don't ask me what year,
it was called US Film at that time,
not Sundance.
And every morning, we were having coffee,
chitchat with Robert Redford.
And I said, "Robert, come on.
This is not white on white." He said, "What do you mean?"
I said, "White people on the white snow."
So the following year I came here as a jury member.
Oh, yeah. I didn't get anything.
-[woman] What film was it? -Who Killed Vincent Chin?
You just don't walk away after you've killed a man.
I don't care for what reason.
[man] The father was saying, "You know,
when we catch up with these Chinese guys,
we gonna bust their motherfucking heads like that."
[man] Mr. Evens was standing over him
with a baseball bat and he was hitting him
in the top of his head.
[man] For a contact, for a swing.
[Christine] It is a good film
but all the jury members were white.
They had no clue about Asian Americans. Zero.
After the film is done, my most happiest moment
is when I went to LA and I ran into two lawyers.
They told me, they said, "Because of the film,
we became criminal lawyers."
That's what film is.
Not only about the case.
It's about race, it's about geopolitics,
about criminal justice,
and it is about...
how expendable...
human beings' life can be.
[Christine] First thing to ask, "What are you gonna wear?"
I said, "I don't know. I have no idea."
No money, no PR
and there weren't a lot of Asian journalists,
because I was, like, one of the few
who ever got nominated.
1989. Okay.
There were no Black people in the Oscars.
[host] Best actress nominee tonight is Jodie Foster,
Tom Selleck, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.
Here's high flying Tom Cruise.
[Christine] And I got to the Oscars...
Here's one of the great legends of Hollywood.
She's back with us tonight. Ms. Snow White, good evening.
And welcome to the 61st Academy Awards.
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro.
[Christine] It was, uh, rather strange.
♪ Dreams come true in the Chinese theater ♪
[Christine] And the majority of actors
were outside smoking cigarettes,
or in the bathroom, gossiping.
We're here to present the Oscar for documentary features.
There's a very impressive lineup
of nominees in this category.
And when the announcement came...
And the Oscar goes to...
Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie,
Marcel Ophuls, producer.
I was very, very disappointed.
There was no Asian members at the Oscars.
I mean, documentary branch [indistinct].
[laughs] So, you can't even lobby.
[classical instrumental playing]
[Christine] No, I don't think so.
"Thank you. I deserve it."
[laughs]
I still deserve it.
Do I ever wanna be famous?
No, I wanna win a lot of awards,
so I can secure my job.
There was an early period of time, I said,
I was one track mind as a filmmaker,
"I'm gonna get in this film festival,
I'm going to get an award."
So, I got a lot of awards. [hums]
Then awards didn't satisfy me.
And I think the most satisfying experience
in making this film,
is revisiting all my old films,
because you people demand me.
Rediscovering yourself through this film in some way.
It's the greatest therapy.
I don't even have to pay a shrink to do this.
[film clicking]
[reporter] This is a CBS News special report.
From CBS News headquarters in New York,
here is Dan Rather.
[Dan] Good evening. We're delaying
the start of tonight's edition of West 57th
to bring you up to date
on the momentous events happening in China.
[reporter 1] This is one of those days on which
you can feel the world changing.
[reporter 2] Events are moving very quickly
in Beijing right now.
[reporter 3] A brutal massacre of Chinese students.
[reporter 4] China's army of the people
open fire on the people.
[Christine] June 4th, 1989,
I was in Los Angeles, shooting for HBO.
And in the hotel room,
there was an old television
and I see the Tank Man.
I said, "What's happening?" you know.
Tanks were coming and he just stood there.
When I started to see the footage,
I realized it's--
it's not peaceful.
Tank.
Tank. You know.
It's very powerful.
[trumpet instrumental playing]
[reporter 2] In the streets of Beijing,
mass demonstrations snake through the city
in support of the students in defiance of the government.
[protesting in Chinese]
[reporter 2] There was the feeling of a carnival,
good natured and free-spirited.
They were young, they were 18. College students.
Never even dreamed about that your own people will kill you.
[reporter 5] This huge demonstration is continuing.
And we mean huge.
We're talking more than a million people.
[speaking Chinese]
[reporter 3] This morning, the government
called it illegal and worse, humiliating.
[reporter 2] The students are now refusing
medical treatment, as well as food and water.
[Christine] They were angry.
They were talking about,
there is no democracy in China,
they want reforms.
Not necessarily get rid of the communist party.
[speaking Chinese]
[reporter 1] Crowds began heading towards
Tiananmen Square, to reinforce the students
who have been sitting there for three weeks.
[reporter 2] The students say they're not leaving.
When they demonstrate in Tiananmen Square,
obviously, it's very legit,
it's a symbol of the People's Republic of China.
[gunshots]
[somber music playing]
[reporter 5] At 1:09, all the lights went out
in the west of the city.
It went almost pitch black.
[reporter 3] It was after dark when the first
military convoys got close to Tiananmen Square.
The defiant pro-democracy students held their ground.
[reporter 1] Then without warning...
[reporter 3] ...troops opened fire indiscriminately
on a crowd of men, women, and children.
[reporter 4] In the darkness, the sound of gunshots.
[reporter 1] Now, people are running away.
There are thousands of them. In extraordinary numbers.
[reporter 5] Launching into an unarmed civilian population
as if charging into battle.
[reporter 6] Against automatic weapons,
the students had only stones to throw.
[reporter 2] They just killed another one in the square.
[reporter 1] They rip away his camera
and they're coming for us.
I'll go! I'll go! I'll go! I'll go!
[speaking in French]
[reporter 1] This is New York. Is anybody here?
[reporter 5] How do you feel right now?
Feel right now? I'm very angry.
While other students are dead.
[reporter 5] Ambulances screamed up to the troop line
and were turned away.
Two ambulance drivers were shot and injured.
I don't even wanna call them a government.
This is really-- they are just some beast.
[reporter 5] The bicycle rickshaw
scooped up the injured.
Others were shunted onto bikes and pedaled to hospital.
We should stop this, I mean, everybody just say,
"No, Chinese government, stop this! You can't--
they can't do this." I--
[reporter 5] Dawn broke this morning
after a long, loud night.
[reporter 3] We're never going to know what the--
the true number is,
because the military is recovering
as many bodies as they can,
whisking them away to crematoria,
in an effort to conceal the number.
[reporter 7] Massacre? What massacre?
The Chinese state controlled press says
no one was killed in Tiananmen Square.
I was shocked.
As of today,
there is no account how many people died.
Some say thousands.
The Chinese government never released the exact number
of how many people died.
The apparent architect of the Beijing massacre,
hardline Premier Li Peng surfaced
to praise those military units that did his bidding.
He ordered the protest leaders to surrender,
or be tracked down wherever they go.
Nearly everyone connected to the pro-freedom movement
was on the run and hunted.
[Christine] I received a phone call.
Someone asked me, these people,
who are the leader of Tiananmen Square 1989
were forced to leave China.
They have to escape China.
At the time, it was not even refugee,
they called them, uh, political exile.
They contacted me,
because I speak Chinese and I had a camera.
I know how to shoot, you know?
At the time, there were very few people
able to do that, you know?
I didn't get paid.
Most of the money went to buying the film
and I think I paid my sound person, you know?
1989, I call you to do the sound.
Oh, oh, for these Chinese people acting up.
But I forgot why they were doing it.
-I forgot. -[Christine] Mm-hmm.
You were doing sound, I was doing camera.
So what do you remember that day, do you?
-Do you? -I can tell you.
So, there we were.
Out come the Chinese people
and all the press swarms on them.
It was the hottest thing happening at that time.
-Even here in New York. -[Christine] Mm-hmm.
[clamoring]
[pensive music playing]
[Ronald] And this is sound roll one,
reference tone with set.
We are on camera roll one.
We are shooting a press conference in Battery Park.
This will be ambienced.
[man] Please, thank you for your cooperation.
Please move, uh, backwards a few steps. Okay?
-Otherwise, I cannot-- -Move back, please!
Please, move back. Okay?
We are so glad to meet this group
of the Chinese leaders who successfully escaped
the persecution of the current Chinese regime.
[speaking Chinese]
[cheering]
[speaking Chinese]
[Christine] I don't even remember most of them.
[Ronald] Christine, these are your people.
You're supposed to know this shit.
I don't know nothing.
What? It's been sitting in the storage
for 20 some years. Okay? How the fuck I remember?
[cheers] Yay! Ronald!
[speaking Chinese]
Excuse me.
[speaking Chinese]
[Ronald] It's a good chase shot.
That's a tail slated.
The second time we chased the students,
Chris was in front of them.
[loud beep]
Subsequently...
they want me to interview a few leaders.
I ended up in an apartment and there were two reporters,
Howard French from the New York Times
and Melinda Liu from Newsweek
with interviewing this-- you know, this event.
[camera shutter clicking]
So I filmed the New York Times interviewing them.
I filmed Melinda interviewing them.
[speaking Chinese]
In China's political history,
there have been, uh, political exiles before.
One of the problem is that Chinese are very nationalistic
and it's always important for them to,
you know, have people in China.
How are you going to overcome that-- that obstacle?
[speaking Chinese]
[camera shutters click]
The idea is more freedom.
More freedom in terms of education.
Not banning all these things, banning the great literature,
rewriting the histories,
no ounce of the material demands.
It's all about intellectual demands.
The first gathering was in Chicago.
So I flew to Chicago and started filming them
and, uh, have no idea who these people were.
You know, all the Chinese look alike. [chuckles]
[man] This is roll number four.
Today's date is 7/28/89.
The first Congress of Chinese students in the US, roll four.
[Christine speaking indistinctly]
[audience cheering]
[speaking Chinese]
[audience cheering]
[Steven] I'm a reporter with the San Francisco Examiner
and I've been following the--
the China story, the Tiananmen Square massacre.
I think the most interesting story
is watching very inexperienced students
from a communist country trying to practice democracy.
[Steven] It gets real chaotic
and sometimes it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere.
[Steven] There might be 300 students actually voting,
but they're representing, like, 40,000 students.
[phone ringing]
Can I do that? Hello?
Certainly, everybody what they want is [indistinct],
but they have different idea about the cons-- constitution.
Okay, thank you. Bye.
Okay. Sorry.
[speaking Chinese]
[Weihe] Well, some-- some students do, uh,
hope to stay here permanently,
but it doesn't mean that they,
or even including myself,
does not want to return to China.
We just don't want to return under the current situation.
I think that I am a Chinese, that cannot be changed,
and that's my responsibility to fight for a better China.
[Hu] And my-- my wife and my daughter,
they're-- they are in Beijing.
Yeah.
I mean, they will come here soon.
I hope. I hope.
I cannot go back.
That's impossible.
It's, um, I cannot do that.
There are some who take this very seriously
and I think they have ambitions of eventually going back
and being those leaders who install a democracy there.
[indistinct chatter]
[host] Sit down. Sit down.
Don't block the cameras behind you, okay?
Mr. Wu'erkaixi to speak to you.
[Steven] There's a fear in--
in Chinese people right now,
of putting too much emphasis on one person,
like the cult of Mao.
Wu'erkaixi does seem to be that type of person.
He is kind of a cult figure.
I mean, I was amazed at what happened
when he-- he came in
and the kind of response he got.
People rushing to the podium practically,
after his speech, to get his autograph.
[speaking Chinese]
[Steven] He has a role to play in the movement.
I think people are aware that he is not all encompassing,
but he's flanked by people
who might have the other qualities needed.
Like Yan Jiaqui, like Wan Runnan,
who's kind of the capitalist of China.
He donated so much money every day to maintain
the-- the demonstration in the squares.
And shows that he had his heart behind the students.
[speaking Chinese]
[man on TV] The following is a song
by an American musician after the Beijing massacre.
[speaking Chinese on radio]
Okay.
I was moved when I had seen this special bulletin
on June 2nd in Fort Myers, Florida,
and 30 minutes later the song was completely written.
And we wanna let China know through this song
that the United States and the rest of the world
share their tears on their face,
and they do not walk alone.
The chorus part is...
♪ China, oh, China ♪
♪ We share the tears on your face ♪
♪ China, we love you! ♪
♪ Sincerely ♪
♪ The human race ♪
[Christine] I just filmed and filmed and filmed.
I shot over 50 rows of a 16-millimeter negative...
and the project died.
[record scratches]
[gate clanks]
Why did I stop filming?
Ran out of money. Ran out of film.
You know, the thing is, I was not there.
I was not sitting in demonstration.
I was only documenting when they became exiled.
So, emotionally, I didn't have that
close connection with them.
Just thought it was just a short uprising,
it would die out.
So my footage really didn't mean anything to me
because it will be all resolved.
Everybody's gonna be happy, happy.
[indistinct] year passed, clock started ticking.
Ticking, ticking.
Ten years, 20 years, 27 years.
Wow!
None of these people could go back,
some things are serious.
[loud beep]
So the negative was sitting there for years.
You gotta understand, I still work in China.
[speaking Chinese]
[Christine] By the time I went to China,
2017,
that's when things were getting really, really scary.
The young people didn't even know it actually happened.
"Your parents never told you?" "No."
"Your school never told you?" "No."
Did not realize, it was completely eliminated
from the history book.
I talked to a Chinese student,
came to NYU in New York.
I said, "How come you don't know about June 4th?"
"There's nobody that talked about it."
I said, "What happen if you talk about it?"
[assistant] They don't know. Right?
No, I'm asking you. It's gonna be a crime?
Get in trouble maybe?
-[Christine] Huh? -Get in trouble.
[Christine] In Chinese, they say [indistinct],
means too sensitive.
Sensitive about what? That's why I'm just puzzled.
[assistant] The history?
[Christine] The history is too sensitive?
I just don't understand the reason, you know.
[assistant] Because you aren't in China.
-Yeah. -[Christine] Okay.
All right.
"Don't talk about Tiananmen Square.
Don't talk about June 4th. It's all past."
Oh, it's all past. It's all gone. It's resolved.
So once everybody says don't,
and you feel like, you know, "Screw you, you know?
You have no basis."
History is history. Fact is fact.
And I think as a filmmaker,
as an artist, and, uh,
I think I have a certain responsibility...
to reveal what I have.
And am I taking a position?
I don't know yet.
[speaking Chinese]
[honking]
[motorbikes whirring]
[Christine] Look at all the motorbikes.
Zillions of motorbikes.
This is a good shot.
I-- I'm just telling you,
I have no relationship with Taiwan at all.
I'm here to say hello to Wu'erkaixi.
Show him the picture some 20 some years ago,
I filmed him, that's it.
[Wu'erkaixi speaking Chinese over laptop]
[speaking Chinese]
I said, "You come from the heaven
or come from the dirt."
-Do you like Taiwan? -I love it.
-Yeah? -Yeah.
I told them yesterday,
I said, "This is my enemy country."
[both laugh]
[speaking Chinese]
I remember you, and seeing you in Chicago.
Everybody there, there are like 20 cameras,
and then yours is very different.
"Like, this is not the news crew camera."
-[Christine] Yeah. Yeah. -[Wu'erkaixi laughs]
[beep]
[Christine] I remember also,
right after Battery Park, we went down to Chinatown.
There was some kind of event took place.
-[Wu'erkaixi] Probably. -[crowd applauding]
[Christine] Do you remember that?
[Wu'erkaixi] No, not much. No.
I was just being driven from one place to another.
[Christine] You didn't write diaries?
[Wu'erkaixi] Not those days.
Those days, I'll be really happy
if I can find a peaceful sleep.
[speaking Chinese]
[Wu'erkaixi] We were in a traumatized state,
I think it's fair to say.
[speaking Chinese]
[somber instrumental playing]
[Christine] So you didn't see
-any psychiatrist? -[Wu'erkaixi] No.
[speaking Chinese]
[Wu'erkaixi] The concept that I should have seen
a psychiatrist at that time,
I should receive some counseling
only emerged years later.
[excited chatter fades]
[Christine] What happened to your parents in Xizang?
Are they in Xizang?
[Wu'erkaixi] Yeah, they're still in Xizang.
[Christine] So how many years haven't seen them now?
[Wu'erkaixi] Twenty-eight years.
They are prohibited from traveling abroad
because of me.
♪
In Taiwan,
I am a respected political commentator.
I think my political stance,
my ideas about communist party, about China,
can be of a service to Taiwanese people.
But my background,
being a Chinese Tiananmen student movement,
is a-- is a clear, clear, uh, background.
So, clear, it's a baggage.
I decided to turn myself in.
I am on the most wanted list, logically,
if someone on the most wanted list
surrendered himself, he'll be accepted.
I spent a night in a detention in a--
under the custody of, um, Macau immigration.
I think it's a unique way
to commemorate June 4th.
It's an unthinkable way.
I want to go home.
I want to see my parents, I want to hold them...
kneel down, and say, "I'm sorry."
If I can see them in the prison visit,
at least I can see them face-to-face in the same room.
But pretty soon,
I find out my action of turning myself in,
uh, was not accepted.
Chinese citizen. Okay?
I tried a few times after that in United States
trying to get into the Chinese embassy,
in Japan, in Hong Kong,
and all unsuccessful.
Uh, most wanted person
become most unwanted.
We wanted a dialogue in 1989,
that's all we wanted.
Now, many of the students got killed, many got arrested,
and I was driven into exile,
so I am trying to turn myself in,
to try to get
that dialogue, regardless.
[speaking Chinese]
[tape recorder rattles, clicks]
[speaking Chinese]
That's a period of time,
everything seems...
blur.
I escaped from a massacre.
In fact, I was quite surprised to see that footage
and realize that my answers wasn't all that bad.
[laughing] No, you were really articulate.
No, uh, thanks.
[Christine] Extremely articulate.
[Wu'erkaixi] Thanks, uh, but what I'm trying to say
is that I couldn't imagine how...
how did I do it?
[crowd applauding]
[speaking Chinese]
[crowd applauding]
-It is a historical material. -Thank you.
Don't you think? It's very valuable.
And now, uh, twenty, some eight years ago,
I'm coming back to Taiwan to interview you, you know?
That, in itself, is for the Chinese position,
it's a political act.
The material, the-- the treasure that you have
is considered poisonous to them,
they wish it never existed.
[Christine] I'm not really afraid.
-I'm not. -[Wu'erkaixi] Yeah, I know.
I think if you start being afraid of your life,
afraid of some, you know--
you know, like, a government, you know,
watching you, then what's the point to live?
[bell chiming distantly]
[speaking Chinese]
[indistinct chatter]
[somber instrumental playing]
[speaking Chinese]
[Wu'erkaixi] I am an exile.
I cannot afford to lose my hope.
But if I had known these are the consequences,
would I do it again?
The very honest answer will be, "I don't know."
Okay.
It's really good to see you. [laughs]
-Yeah. Keep in touch, okay? -Will do that.
-Yes, let's do that. -[Christine] Bye.
[Wu'erkaixi] Safe journey.
[contemplating instrumental playing]
-[tape recorder whirring] -[indistinct chatter]
Oh, I should get paid for talking.
[energetic drum instrumental playing]
[Christine] All right, I recall
it was a really, really hot day
and they had a car pick me up,
and, uh, we were blindfolded.
And I ask, "Why are we blindfolded?"
They said, "Because we don't want you to know
where you're going."
-[tires screeching] -You know, when I'm in the car,
usually I think-- I fantasize a lot of things, you know?
Maybe I was fantasizing
the place we're supposed to be.
What would it look like?
And then we arrived, and I took off my blindfold.
I didn't know where was-- where was I,
but I didn't even care.
During the daytime, we went to the beach,
and we filmed a little bit, and it was so hot.
It's, like, almost 100 degree.
Thank God, I brought my bathing suit.
So, I filmed the whole...
[laughing] ...whole thing with my bathing suit on.
[man] This is sound roll 13.
We're on the beach with the Chinese
on Long Island.
[Christine] I'm terrified of the water.
I'm-- I can't swim.
[man] Tale of beach shot. The guys are in the water.
[laughs]
[speaking Chinese]
[Christine] Yan Jiaqi, I met him,
he was thin, and he was an intellectual.
I found him really honest.
Really want to tell people his story.
[beep]
[speaking Chinese]
[beeping]
[speaking Chinese]
[Christine] I recall he felt extremely guilty
towards his wife,
because he asked the wife
to come out with him, and left the son there.
[speaking Chinese]
[beep]
[speaking Chinese]
[piano melody playing]
[speaking Chinese]
[projector clicking]
[speaking Chinese]
That's great.
[speaking Chinese]
He got kicked out from the communist party.
[speaking Chinese]
[man] I can't believe you [indistinct].
I can't believe you [indistinct].
[man] That's amazing.
[Christine] 30 years ago, he wrote that 30 years ago.
[calm piano instrumental playing]
[speaking Chinese]
[playful instrumental playing]
[crowd applauding]
[speaking Chinese]
♪
[speaking Chinese]
[Chinese vocal music playing over TV]
[speaking Chinese]
[soft piano instrumental playing]
[speaking Chinese]
[tape recorder whirring]
[long beep]
[man] Roll 16.
[beep]
[dramatic piano instrumental playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[speaking Chinese]
[crowd shouting over TV]
[speaking Chinese]
[tape recorder whirring]
[interviewer] Do you think the exiles regret
participating in the democracy movement?
You ask me?
No, I think the answer is,
they have to give to us.
I can't tell. Yeah.
Do I regret to come to America?
No.
Do I regret leaving China? No.
Do I regret
getting married, divorce?
No.
When you make this kind of critical decision
as an individual,
you already know the consequences.
Perhaps not clearly written black and white,
but you know, there will be con--
consequences.
And I think applies to all three of them.
I don't think that China even allowed
to have their coffin to be shipped back.
Maybe the ashes.
Maybe I can bring the ashes, spread into the hometown.
I don't think
that I'm called the revolutionary.
I-- I think I'm pretty patriotic.
The reason I'm gonna make this film
is because, come on,
this is the love of China.
This is what happened in China.
["The Four Seasons, Summer" playing on violin]
[speaking Chinese]
[camera clicking]
[speaking Chinese]
[music ends]
[car beeping]
[speaking Chinese]
[calm instrumental playing]
[tape recorder whirring]
[car engine whirring]
[car door clicks open]
[speaking Chinese]
The-- the friends, he says he still
hangs out with the Chinese.
I said that's what the problem with the Chinese is.
-[man laughs] -Wow.
Really good. Sweet and sour, like life.
Wow, in the backyard...
he's got more shit.
More, you know, vegan stuff, you know.
[chickens clucking]
[laughs]
[birds chirping]
[speaking Chinese]
[somber music plays]
[speaking Chinese]
[Christine] I was thinking if I was in his shoes,
what would I do?
Really, what I would do.
I probably would join
the Tiananmen Square, personally.
You know, I would, you know.
But if, uh, the situation
took 30 years of being an exile,
I think I would have to come to Paris. [laughs]
Well, I would not do the gardening, for sure,
because whatever you plant, nothing grows, okay?
I would not write poetry,
because neither my Chinese
nor my English, zero French.
So literally speaking, I'm not even capable
of writing one line poetry, all right?
But I can have a good time having a camera,
able to make a film, able to document
whatever's happening surrounding you.
And I'm thinking that's the best outlet.
I don't need a shrink for that.
[speaking Chinese]
[indistinct]
[Christine] Where are you taking this film?
What's next?
You know, I don't have other talents,
otherwise, I can do little a dance,
a little karaoke.
I'm a little more entertainment,
but I don't have a name.
So I don't know what's your plan,
how are you gonna--
how are you gonna tell
the American audience this is a true story
aside from the foolish you have.
But also, historically,
more than 10% of the American
never even left their-- their own hometown,
their own states.
They-- they live in this world of a dream.
[man reporter] Turmoil in China where Americans
jammed Beijing airport today for flights
out of the chaos and killing.
[woman reporter] Foreign students, tourists,
and business travelers, all trying
to leave the country.
US citizens going on
the United Airlines charter flights.
The Russians were out three days ago.
Japanese got out yesterday.
We were running roadblocks.
We were taking high risk to get Americans out.
[man] It's horrific what they--
they just act-- they were so slow.
The bottom line is that I am out of China.
And everybody I think who wanted to be out of China
is out of China.
Good to get back. I'm too old to be doing this.
[man reporter] There is no rescue
for pro-democracy students
now on the run from Chinese police.
[man] At that time, uh,
America represents advancement.
People's feeling toward America was very,
very positive during the '80s.
[chanting indistinctly]
[woman reporter] Nearly 20,000 Chinese Americans
marched in a downpour
through the streets of New York's Chinatown,
denouncing Li Peng
and Deng Xiaoping as murderers.
-Stop the killing! -[crowd] Stop the killing!
[man] Because of the student movement in Beijing,
all the students from different part
of the United States have decided to form
this independent federation
for Chinese students and scholars.
[speaking Chinese]
[Margaret] We think that it's a very clouded situation
and that we aren't in a position to judge
at this time who-- who is in charge of what.
And to be perfectly honest for you,
it seems to me that that would be something
the Chinese should be telling us
versus us trying to sit back here and guess.
One thing I learned about democracy
is that it's very shortsighted.
Four years, that's it.
For the next reelection.
[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
the president of the United States.
[woman reporter] Mr. President, back to China.
If we find out that the people
who perpetrated the killings
in Tiananmen Square
and were rounding up these students
are running the government,
can the United States
maintain fairly normal relationships with them,
given our aim to foster human rights
and promote democracy?
It would make it extraordinarily difficult.
But the question is so hypothetical
that I'm gonna avoid answering it directly.
[Charles] Earlier, you sir, you made reference
to Deng Xiaoping suggesting
that he may, if I read you right,
not necessarily have been responsible for the actions.
What were you trying to say?
-Do you have information that-- -I was trying to say
that I don't know.
And I'm trying to say you don't know.
And he doesn't know. She doesn't know.
And nobody knows outside.
And that's the way the Chinese system works.
The Chinese government covered everything up,
so it no longer exists.
We have this history, it...
[blows] ...evaporated.
The Bush administration says
that they don't wanna undermine
17 years of diplomacy,
just because of one weekend.
In the conduct of foreign policy,
we have to look at our long-term national interest.
And we should not become a party
to the internal fight
that is now going to happen in China.
And from this point of view that I am pragmatic,
not from the moral point of view.
[camera shutters clicking]
[speaking Chinese]
[Wu'erkaixi] The last, uh, 30 years
the communist party have done their best
to implement fear in China.
And they did it well.
The world is seeing a kind of totalitarianism
as just never seen before.
In the past when we tried to inspire people to--
to fight against the communist party,
I used to say one line.
I say, you know, they just don't have enough prison cells
to lock everybody up.
But then they said, "You know what?
We will show you-- we're gonna build,
um, a concentration camp."
They can take in millions of people.
And they have done that with the world's appeasement.
Pressure works.
Apply pressure!
[Christine] But who's gonna exert
international pressure at this time?
[Wu'erkaixi] The international community.
[Christine] The United Nations couldn't because China
is sitting on a security council, hello!
[Wu'erkaixi] How about United States?
United States is a chicken shit.
-[Wu'erkaixi laughs] -It's a very,
very self-interested nation.
They really do nothing,
but them about anybody else, okay?
[speaking Chinese]
[Christine] First of all, mind you.
We didn't know anything about America when I grew up,
because your country and my country now
is the imperialist country.
They are evil, evil, evil.
I was 14 when I came to United States.
America was the leading advocate
for individualism.
You know, "I'm better than you are.
You are better than them."
Competition is the basic capitalist formula
to advance people who can make money, right?
1% of the population makes all the money.
It causes a lot of ramification,
a lot of problem, a lot of conflict.
China didn't have a class.
China is a class. You know, everybody was poor.
You know, we studied the electrical materialism...
when you were easy bit, okay?
You memorized the whole thing.
Little red book, you memorize it.
Now, today, China...
majority of the people,
just following the party-- what the party says,
because there is no frame of reference.
And that is not communism.
That was not what Lenin, you know, was proclaiming.
It's about the power to the proletariats.
If you wanna progress,
people have to think.
Analyzing the past,
learn from the past, and move forward.
When you don't have any more past left,
how can you move forward?
You tell me.
-[chuckles] -[tape rolling]
[crowd singing]
[speaking Chinese]
[pensive music playing]
[man reporter] Next, house Speaker Nancy Pelosi
testifies at a joint hearing on the 30th anniversary
of the Tiananmen Square protest in China.
Following her testimony, a panel of former
Chinese student leaders and other experts
discuss China's human rights abuses,
including imprisonment of activists
and censorship of free speech.
[Nancy] Today we remember the brutal massacre
that the Chinese government committed
against its own people 30 years ago.
We remember the courage of the students, workers,
and citizens who peacefully defied an oppressive regime
to demand the liberties and human rights
that they deserved.
We all remember that they raised the goddess of democracy
in the image of our own Statue of Liberty,
how they quoted our founders, how the tanks and troops
crushed their protest, but could not extinguish
the flame of freedom burning in their hearts.
It's important for the world to know 30 years later,
that we haven't forgotten what happened then,
and that we know what is happening now.
In the era of high-tech social control,
there is a direct line of repression,
linking the Tank Man and the internment
of over one million Uyghurs
and other predominantly Muslim minorities,
in what they call "political reeducation camps."
[Zhou] 30 years ago, I saw 40 bodies
of young students just like me,
lying on the ground
outside of [indistinct] hospital.
[Mi] They were killed by martial law troops
firing indiscriminately into crowds.
They were shot in the back by troops
who chased them into alleys.
They were stabbed with bayonets
after being shot.
They were crushed by tanks.
How is it that the Chinese government
has been able to get away with murder?
Not without the complicity of the international community.
[Scott] The United States abandoned its own principles.
I think we ought to recognize the--
the government of Tibet in exile.
I think we ought to establish a consulate in Tibet.
[Jim] The Chinese government wants to rewrite history
and have history books that don't include this chapter.
I mean, the chapter is included
in every other history book in the world.
[woman] The accumulation of wealth, um,
gives the Chinese authorities a very convenient narrative.
You don't need to repress people,
if people feel that the system is giving you,
uh, benefits and is giving you a better life.
And if you worry that the failure,
that the collapse of the system would--
would dan-- danger your own livelihood.
I've chaired 68 congressional hearings
on human rights abuses in China over the years.
I had one visit of General [indistinct].
As you all know, he was the operational commander
who sent in the tanks.
And to his shame, Bill Clinton
invited him to the White House,
gave him a 19-gun salute.
Uh, and then he went to the Army War College and said,
"Nobody died at Tiananmen Square."
You know, such a regime that can invade
its own capital with tanks,
could kill without accountability.
You know, there's no limit to what they can do.
[Wu'erkaixi] Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Ladies and gentlemen...
it gives me no pleasure to say now that
I told you so.
I have waited a long time for the United States
to realize there is something fundamentally wrong
with this picture.
The light of democracy in China was snuffed out,
because we were betrayed.
You betrayed us.
Those days, as a 21-year-old student leader
marching on the street of Beijing
and occupying Tiananmen Square,
we not only had the support of the Chinese people,
we had the support from all over the world.
It felt like, uh, history was on our side,
and victory would be ours soon.
But after the massacre and condemnation,
the world's leaders parade back to Beijing,
so they could access China's market
and its billion customers.
Mentioning Tiananmen became an inconvenience
for the leaders of the world democracies.
We were betrayed.
Though it was a great thing that we tried to do,
I sometimes wonder whether I would do it all over again.
The cost was too great.
Measuring in the blood spilled by my fellow countryman.
As a survivor, I keenly feel the guilt
and the pain that belongs to the captain,
who didn't go down with his ship.
You either stand with the Tank Man,
or you stand with the tank.
I truly want to believe the world leaders,
including those here today...
are wise enough not to repeat the mistake of yesterday.
I trust you have the courage to face up to China,
before it is too strong and it is too late.
And this would, belatedly,
make our sacrifice worthwhile.
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
[man] Thank you very much.
[applauding]
[pensive music playing]
♪
[Christine] Who is gonna document this issue?
Journalist, okay?
You can write about it, but most Americans don't read.
Right? So, filmmaking is very important.
It's the visual communication.
How do you empower the spectators?
How are you able to give them information
they normally do not receive?
Documentary is a true recording of the...
history.
While history was unfolding.
So it has different kind of power.
You don't spoon-feed the people.
You can't.
You have to...
let them absorb...
and realize, "Oh, this is injustice,
this is discrimination."
This is how the past, the present, and future
are all interrelated.
Let them film in prison.
You know, I know people in prison for 30 years
Never got out, you know?
The hope gets little bit,
little bit get chewed away.
You know, Wu'erkaixi.
Wan Runnan.
Yan Jiaqui.
Exile.
Many filmmakers are exiles.
What is repercussion of a making this film?
You tell me.
After I just ran down the whole shit loads of stuff
about how China is forbidding me
to talk about Tiananmen Square.
So it should be a little mystery.
The film should be a little mystery.
Christine Choy disappeared. She got arrested in the border.
[chuckles]
I'm just saying that, you know, it's true.
It's very true, like, [bleep] doesn't even wanna
-have his name on the credit. -[producer] You just said it.
[ice cubes clanking]
You know, scare tactic is awful.
You know, teachers live there.
You don't behave, I'll give you a D, okay?
Right? In China.
Don't talk back.
I know my future when this film is finished.
Hello? I don't think
I will ever be allowed to go back to China.
I mean, I don't think it's only me.
I think that you do have the concern
about people's name on this film.
Do I love China? Yes.
But if you start a sense of yourself,
you have no freedoms, period.
Home, America, New York City,
below 23rd Street...
above Houston Street.
That's the only place I wanna live.
If I never left China, uh,
I think I would be a very good communist member.
Maybe I would be just basically very content.
Accepting whatever the value was given to me,
not questioning.
That's what I would've become.
I would've become one of the young people,
like, uh, today.
No questions ever asked.
As you are getting older,
you start to realize you are not perfect.
Come on, your body's falling apart, you know?
You're losing some of your memories.
It's-- it's-- it's a fact, you know?
I have to receive that. I have to admit that.
The important thing for me is just being
fucking honest with myself.
I don't have to be honest with anyone else
just to be myself.
And in order to be-- be honest with yourself,
you have to be very critical about yourself.
You have to know all your shit.
Some people criticize me that I'm too loud,
too open, too direct.
I smoke too much. I drink too much.
I talk too much. [mumbling] Um, I work too much.
I get criticized by a lot of people,
but very, very few people
really criticize me with an issue
that I'm willing to accept.
My legacy, I have no goddamn legacy.
I told my son, "If I drop dead, number one,
I don't wanna have a memorial service
because everybody's gonna say nice things about me."
I'm gonna get cremated
and flushed right down the toilet.
I wanna just have a really...
interesting life.
Take a risk, do things nobody dare to do,
make movies nobody dare to make.
Not thinking about failure and success,
and that really gives you great peace.
I live...
not in the past.
I never have sought
a nostalgic feeling about the past.
No.
I live today, tomorrow.
I don't have a future.
I don't have a past. I only have a present.
That's who I am. That's my philosophy.
So you ask me a lot of things about the past, it's gone.
Live for the future.
♪
[music ends]