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Hooligan Sparrow

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 as an advocate for sex workers’ rights, continues to champion girls’ and women’s rights as she arms herself with the power of social media. Filmmaker Wang becomes a target as well, as she faces destroyed cameras and intimidation. But she bravely and tenaciously keeps shooting, guerrilla-style, with secret recording devices and hidden-camera glasses, and in the process, exposes a startling number of undercover security agents on the streets.