Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist. Ai grew up in the far north-west of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly critical of the Chinese Government's stance on democracy and human rights. He investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal following the collapse of schools in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2011, Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing Capital International Airport on 3 April, for allegedly economic crimes. He was detained for 81 days without charge. Ai Weiwei emerged as a vital instigator in Chinese cultural development, an architect of Chinese modernism, and one of the nation's most vocal political commentators. Ai Weiwei encapsulates political conviction and his personal poetry in his many sculptures, photographs and public works. In doing this, he makes use of Chinese art forms to display the Chinese political and social issues. After being allowed to leave China in 2015, he has lived in Berlin, Germany, and, since 2019, in Cambridge, UK, with his family, working and traveling internationally.

Filmography

• 2026ALLEN & AI
• 2026Ai Weiwei: Sewing a Button — Self, Director
• 20258507days — Director
• 2025Animality — Director, Producer, Writer
• 2024The Trainer — Ai Weiwei
• 2022Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War
• 2022Opera di Roma: Turandot — Director
• 2022Rohingya — Director, Producer
• 2020Cockroach — Director, Producer
• 2020CoroNation — Producer, Director
• 2020Vivos — Director, Producer, Director of Photography
• 2019Propaganda: The Art of Selling Lies
• 2019The Rest — Producer, Director
• 2019Ximei — Executive Producer
• Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
• 2018Shouting Out — Director
• 2017Human Flow — Producer, Director, Director of Photography
• 2017The Chinese Lives of Uli Sigg
• 2017江天勇律师 — Director
• 2016Heaven and Earth — Director, Producer
• 2015Fukushima Art Project — Director
• 2015Straight — Director
• 2014Ai Weiwei's Appeal ¥15,220,910.50 — Self, Producer, Director
• 2014Play of the Play — Director
• 2014The Sand Storm
• 2014You Know What I Mean — Director, Producer
• 2013Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case
• 2013Ping'an Yueqing — Producer, Director
• 2013Stay Home — Director, Producer
• 2013Wenchuan Rebar — Director
• 20124851 — Director
• 2012Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry — Self - Artist, Thanks
• 2012Beijing: The Second Ring — Producer, Editor, Cinematography, Director
• 2012Beijing: The Third Ring — Producer, Cinematography, Director, Editor
• 2012Chang'an Boulevard — Editor, Producer, Cinematography, Director
• 2012Discard the Old Path of Closed Doors and Rigidity and Reject Evil Attempts to Change the Party's Banner — Director
• 2012Ordos 100 — Producer, Director
• 2012Remembrance — Director
• 2012So Sorry — Director, Producer
• 2012The Crab House — Director, Producer
• 2012The Mala Desert — Producer, Director
• 2011Flower Good Moon Round — Director
• 2011Hormone
• 2011Who's Afraid of Ai Wei Wei?
• 2010A Beautiful Life — Director
• 2010Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour
• 2010Jingmei Wang — Director
• 2010One Recluse — Cinematography, Editor, Producer, Director
• 2010Sanhua — Producer, Director
• 2009Disturbing the Peace — Self, Producer, Director
• 2009Little Girl's Cheeks — Director, Producer
• 2009冯正虎回家 — Director
• 2007Fairytale — Producer, Editor, Director
• 2004Beijing 2003 — Producer, Cinematography, Editor, Director
• 2003Eat, Drink and Be Merry — Self, Director, Producer

Appearances as themselves (20)

• 2025Ai Weiwei's Turandot — Self
• 2024A Clockwork Orange: The Prophecy — Self
• 2024Free to Create - Artists in Exile — Himself
• Laogai: Prison Nation - Inside China's Ruling System — Self - Interviewee
• Aux arts et cætera — Self
• 2022Ithaka — Self
• 2019Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly — Self
• 2019Vincent van Gogh Superstar — Self
• 2018Ai Weiwei en Buenos Aires — Himself
• 2018Why Are We Creative? — Self
• 2017Ai Weiwei Drifting — Self
• Artsnight — Self
• 2014Ai Weiwei - Evidence — Himself
• 2014Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema — Self
• 2012KUN 13: Criticizing Ai Weiwei and Wu Haohao — Himself
• 2010Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds — Himself
• Kulturplatz — Self
• The Daily Show — Self
• Morgenmagazin — Self
• Bambi — Self