AI WEIWEI TO STAR IN SCI-FI FILM SHOT IN BEIJING

The artist Ai Weiwei will be starring in a short science-fiction film, The Sandstorm, set in a dystopian Beijing, according to Patrick Brzeski in the Hollywood Reporter. The project turned up on Kickstarter and is being shot by cinematographer Christopher Doyle. The director, Jason Wishnow, is head of video at the TED Talks lecture series, and first worked with Ai when the artist smuggled a secret TED Talk out of China. Because Ai’s under surveillance in China, Wishnaw said the film was shot in secret. “We told no one what we were up to. The crew used code names and ever-shifting modes of communication.”