Herzog’s Days

He Yang

Release year: 2010

Run time: 59 mins

Film type: Documentary

In 2010, a freedom of expression case known as "The Three Netizens" caused a civil movement storm in mainland China. In Minqing County, Fujian Province, a girl was raped to death. The police said that it was a natural death. However, based on various signs, her mother believes that the girl died after she was gang raped. Three netizens, You Jingyou, Fan Yanqiong and Wu Huaying, wrote articles and recorded videos for the girl's mother and made them public on the internet. Because of this, the police convicted the three and sentenced them to between one and two years in prison. This event caused great indignation among the netizens. People came from across the country to the Mawei Court in Fujian Province to show their solidarity with the three, thus opening a new chapter in the history China's civil rights movement.

Independent documentary filmmaker
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.

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Herzog’s Days