Doc/Fest - Sheffield

Scattered near the main Petition Offices around Beijing South Railway Station, live the petitioners. They come from all over China after having exhausted their local appeals. Zhao Liang has been filming them since 1996. Living in makeshift shelters or rough on the street, they wait for months and often years to try to obtain justice for the layoffs, mistreatment by authorities, and miscarriages of justice which torment them. Not only do they have to contend with hostile bureaucrats, but they also live in mortal fear of the thugs sent from the local government to prevent petitioners from pursuing their cases. At the film’s centre is Qi, who has struggled since 1987 to seek justice after her husband’s mysterious death. Her daughter has grown up trailing her mother rather than attending school, and as she approaches adulthood is desperate to escape. As the 2008 Olympics loom, the petitioners find that even their shanties are to be destroyed. A harrowing and revelatory film, Petition is a must-see for anyone wanting to understand modern-day China.

“Even Franz Kafka would find it hard to credit the systemic injustice denounced in Petition.” – Screen International