Human Flow (2017)

Human Flow is director and artist Ai Weiwei's detailed and heartbreaking exploration into the global refugee crisis.

Director:

Weiwei Ai (as Ai Weiwei)

Writers:

Chin-Chin Yap, Tim Finch

Stars:

Israa Abboud, Hiba Abed, Rami Abu Sondos

6 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Israa Abboud	...	Self
Hiba Abed	...	Self
Rami Abu Sondos	...	Self
Weiwei Ai	...	Self (as Ai Weiwei)
Fadi Abou Akleh	...	Self
Yamama Al-Awaad	...	Self
Asmaa Al-Bahiyya	...	Self
Eman Al-Masina	...	Self
Maya Ameratunga	...	Self
Amir	...	Self
Hanan Ashrawi	...	Interviewee
Orlando Avis	...	Self
Peter Bouckaert	...	Self
Sukriye Cetin	...	Self
Tanya Chapuisat	...	Self

Storyline

Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. Human Flow, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries, the film follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and Turkey. Human Flow is a witness to its subjects and their desperate search for safety, shelter and justice: from teeming refugee camps to perilous ocean crossings to barbed-wire borders; from dislocation and disillusionment to courage, endurance and adaptation; from the haunting lure of lives left ...

---

Plot Keywords:

artist | 

---

Taglines:

"There is no refugee crisis, only a human crisis." - Ai Weiwei

---

Genres:

Documentary

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic material including a disturbing image

Did You Know?

Trivia

Like Human Flow, Ai has created similar art installations such as the "Law of the Journey" that features a 200 foot inflatable boat carrying 258 refugee figures, "Laundromat" where he filled a New York City gallery with discarded clothing and personal notes left by refugees in a camp in Idomeni Greece, and the recreation of the captured image of Aylan Kurdi, the young Syrian who drowned off the coast of Turkey.

User Reviews

Everyone must see

I saw this today after having heard Ai Weiwei speak a few weeks ago at the Cooper Union about this film and his NYC project of fence sculptures around the city.

The film documents the plight of global displacement of humans due to unprecedented civil strife and climate disaster - displacing more people than WW2.

It was a bit long but, in fact, that was probably a strategy to mirror the enormity of the problem.

Not moralising, more show than tell, I respect this method of documentary making.

Thank you.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Site

Country:

Germany USA China Palestine France

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 October 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Human Flow

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$45,677, 15 October 2017

Gross USA:

$527,845

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,824,537

Company Credits

Production Co:

24 Media Production Company, AC Films, Ai Weiwei Studio

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1