POV
HOOLIGAN SPARROW
MONDAY, OCTOBER 17 @ 11:00PM
Speaking truth to power is dangerous in some places, including modern-day China, where corrupt government officials deal very harshly with critics.
Chinese officials prove especially displeased when their critics include an activist lawyer, outraged parents, a fearless filmmaker and a sex workers’ rights activist with a wicked sense of humor. Hooligan Sparrow, Nanfu Wang’s feature debut, centers on a horrible crime that took place in 2013: A school principal and a member of the education bureaucracy abducted six female students 11 to 14 years of age, took them to a hotel and sexually assaulted them over a 24-hour period. When parents and their supporters demanded justice, the perpetrators insisted the girls were prostitutes. Then the powers-that-be and their hired thugs really started playing hardball.
