Nanfu Wang’s award-winning documentary “Hooligan Sparrow” will be released theatrically in LA and NY this July. The film debuted at Sundance 2016.
Wang told Women and Hollywood that “Hooligan Sparrow” was filmed “on the run with hidden cameras, pocket recorders and a camera built into a pair of glasses” to tell “the shocking story of the fight for human rights in China from its front lines.”
The doc follows human rights advocate Ye Haiyan — known better as Hooligan Sparrow —as she rallies a group of activists around a legal case in China. A principal sexually abused schoolgirls and, according to Wang, was “poised to receive [a] light [sentence]” given the severity of the crimes. So Sparrow and Co. fought back — and faced consequences, including being arrested and evicted, for standing up to government corruption and sexual violence against women. Their protest went viral.
“Getting the footage out of China was one of the biggest challenges,” Wang revealed to Women and Hollywood. “Because we were constantly on the run, I couldn’t leave my hard drives anywhere. I carried all of my footage with me everywhere I went. I was always afraid that my footage would be seized and destroyed, or that it would be seen by the authorities and used against my subjects.”
Wang was recently announced as the recipient of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival’s Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking. The fest kicks off June 10 with the Opening Night Film — “Hooligan Sparrow.”
Catch “Hooligan Sparrow” in theaters July 15 in NY and July 22 in LA. The film marks Wang’s directorial debut.
