Brash and opinionated, Christine Choy is a documentarian, cinematographer, professor, and quintessential New Yorker whose films and teaching have influenced a generation of artists.
In 1989, Choy began documenting three leaders of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests who had escaped to political exile following the June 4th massacre. That project was abandoned when funding ran out and has remained unseen and incomplete until now. In their debut feature, directors Ben Klein and Violet Columbus follow Choy as she travels to Taiwan, Maryland, and Paris in order to share the archival footage with the dissidents who have remained in exile since 1989.
Driven by Choy’s iconoclastic voice, THE EXILES is about the enduring love for one’s home, the fragility of historical record and remembrance, and the power of film to intervene and bear witness. Winner of the Sundance 2022 Grand Jury Prize for U.S Documentary, THE EXILES brings modern history and the struggle for democracy to human scale by considering the individual costs of a life dedicated to self-expression.
“Choy’s inextinguishable spirit can be felt burning away behind every scene.” – Indiewire
“Fascinating.” – Variety
“An expert example of documentary cinema as a truth-telling device.” – The Playlist
“Choy is an inspirational figure” – Screen International
“The Exiles shows how much its subjects gave up and how little they won. Americans who hope to still have a democracy
in 20, 10, or even two years from now should take note.” – Hollywood Reporter
"Draws its energy and focus from the righteous, relentless advocacy of Chinese American filmmaker Christine Choy,
whose footage of 1989 protesters is here lovingly excavated and forcefully reexamined." – Los Angeles Times
