The Exiles
Description
Never-before-seen footage of Chinese dissidents enmeshed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and their bittersweet reflections 30 years later anchor this part cine-memoir, part archival excavation focused on Who Killed Vincent Chin? (Festival 1988) documentary firebrand Christine Choy. Relinquishing control of the camera to her students Ben Klein and Violet Columbus, the filmmaker is freed to ruminate over her personal journey to the US and her complicated relationship with her homeland. In Choy’s past and present interviews with her subjects, we see connections made and witness the tremendous sacrifices undertaken by those who held onto the ideals of democracy. A trailblazing provocateur returns center stage bringing compatriots along in a film that won the Documentary US Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Produced by Steven Soderbergh.
Trailer
Biographies
A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in Film & Television, Violet Columbus previously co-directed a narrative short, Willy (2017). The Exiles, her first documentary feature, won the documentary US Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Ben Klein previously made a short, Peace in the Nation (2016), and co-directed Willy (2017). He was the cinematographer on the Sundance Film Festival award-winning short Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver (2021). The Exiles is his first feature. He is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.