Bloody Years
He Yang
Release year: 2011
Run time: 31 mins
Film type: Documentary
Synopsis
The plight of many farmers in Henan Province, China, who have been infected with HIV through blood sales, has long been a global concern. The rapid rate of HIV transmission, the number of infections and deaths, and the harsh treatment of people living with HIV in Henan Province are among the most catastrophic events in contemporary world public health history. One such victim is Tian Xi, who was infected with HIV at the age of nine in 1996 through a blood transfusion at the First People's Hospital in Xin Cai County, where he was also infected with hepatitis B and C. After completing university in Beijing, he became a student at the University of Beijing. On 11 February 2011, he was sentenced to one year's imprisonment by the Xincai County Court in Henan Province for "intentional destruction of property".
Director biography
Born in 1970
From 2010 to 2011, he made a number of documentaries on human rights and social movements. They are: "Disbarment ", a film documenting the suppression of Chinese human rights lawyers by the government and the illegal revocation of their lawyers' licenses, "Emergency Shelter", a film documenting the torture and displacement of legal rights defender Ni Yulan by the Chinese government, "Herzog’s Days", a film reflecting the social movement and street protests triggered by the "Fujian Three Netizens Case", "Blood Years", a film documenting the arrest of AIDS rights activist Tian Xi, and "Fanjun City", a film documenting the survival of landless peasants.
Among them, "Herzog’s Days" won the Citizen Award at the 1st Sunside of the Doc.
He has been blacklisted since he made a human rights documentary in 2010 and restricted from leaving the country, followed and placed under house arrest for a long time, beaten, raided, arrested and illegally detained by the police several times.
He emigrated to the United States in 2015.
He completed the documentary "No Retreat" in 2017, reflecting on human rights lawyers in China.