Underplayed Gems

Ximei (2019)

Ximei poster
Directed by
Andrew Cohen, Gaylen Ross
Genre
documentary film
Country
Switzerland
Runtime
1h 38m
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

The film follows a peasant woman named Liu Ximei as she fights for AIDS victims in China. These people contracted AIDS in the 1990s through a government-sanctioned blood selling scheme. The documentary shows her crusades with an unflinching, observant style.

grittyveriteurgentbleakemotionally rawhopefulsoberingvisceral

What happens

Ximei is a 2019 American documentary directed by Andy Cohen, co-directed by Gaylen Ross and produced by Ai Weiwei. In a gritty, vérité style, the film follows the harrowing crusades of a peasant woman named Liu Ximei. She fights for the survival of fellow AIDS victims who contracted AIDS in the 1990s when Chinese health officials encouraged millions of poor farmers to sell their blood for a pittance under catastrophic health conditions. Production of Ximei lasted seven years, due to interference from Chinese officials; Cohen's phone and internet messages were spied on, parts of the footage regularly confiscated, and he and Ross were expelled from the AIDS villages on various occasions. Subjects of the film were often detained by the authorities and forced to sign statements and the film's Chinese cameraman was arrested and later released for his activism. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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