Hooligan Sparrow film

Showing of the film Hooligan Sparrow in June

We are pleased to be able to show the documentary film Hooligan Sparrow at the Arts Centre on Thursday June 14 starting at 7:30.  It will be free but it will be ticketed and we are currently exploring ways to get tickets.  There will be a parting collection to help cover our costs.

The film is set in China and the danger is palpable as intrepid young filmmaker Nanfu Wang follows maverick activist Ye Haiyan (a.k.a Hooligan Sparrow) and her band of colleagues to Hainan Province in southern China to protest the case of six elementary school girls who were sexually abused by their principal.

Marked as ‘enemies of the state’, the activists are under constant government surveillance and face interrogation, harassment, and imprisonment.  Sparrow, who gained notoriety with her advocacy work for sex workers’ rights, continues to champion girls’ and women’s rights and arms herself with the power and reach of social media.

Filmmaker Wang becomes a target along with Sparrow, as she faces destroyed cameras and intimidation. Yet she bravely and tenaciously keeps shooting, guerrilla-style, with secret recording devices and hidden-camera glasses, and in the process, she exposes a startling number of undercover security agents on the streets.  Eventually, through smuggling footage out of the country, Wang is able tell the story of her journey with the extraordinary revolutionary Sparrow, her fellow activists, and their seemingly impossible battle for human rights.

(text taken from the website of the film)

Please keep an eye on this site and or on Twitter and Facebook (salisburyai) for details of how to get the tickets.   If you are interested in joining us this would be a good opportunity to make yourself known to a member of the group before or after the showing.