Wang Bingzhang has spent the last 14 years in a Chinese prison. His family chooses to fight for the freedom of the man who once abandoned them.

Interview with Directors Juliet Lammers & Lorraine Price

Watch Inside These Walls on CBC Gem

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

Thanks! Our producer on our previous film came across an article about Ti-Anna in the Montreal Gazette. It was 2012 and a fictional novel for young adults based on her story had just come out. Her story sounded interesting so we get in touch. After meeting her, we both felt there was a very nuanced story about family and personal sacrifice that we wanted to tell.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

This films is about family, so really it is for everyone. Whether you come from a close family or one with fraught relationships, you will find something to relate to. If you are interested in the tenacity of the human spirit and in exploring the complicated nature of familial love and obligation, this is the film for you. You should watch it because we must all, at some point ask ourselves: how much are we willing to sacrifice for the greater good?

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

There are a few themes in this film that we felt were universal. The first relates to family. We all have family and I would guess the majority of us understand that family relationships are often complicated; we love each other but we don’t always like each other. The Wang family’s relationships are complicated by an unusual set of circumstances but, in essence, they are not so different from the average family dynamic.

There is also the theme of personal sacrifice. Dr. Wang sacrificed his freedom for his beliefs. The Wangs, each in their own way, have sacrificed much of their freedom in their commitment to advocate on Dr. Wang’s behalf. The question of how much we are willing to sacrifice for the greater good applies to Dr. Wang as well as his family and is a theme that people grapple with in a variety of contexts.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

When we first began working on Inside These Walls we thought it was a political story played out through Wang Bingzhang and his daughter Ti-Anna. But we quickly learned that it was in fact a complex story about a family which is caught up in political circumstances sometimes without their consent and entirely out of their control.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

We showed the film to the Wang family before anyone else. They laughed at the right moments, they cried, and at the end said we had told their story better than they could have. Of course, that was the ultimate compliment.

The film’s public premiere was on CBC in Canada. TV premieres are strange. In one way they are great because you reach so many more people through television than the theatre, but you don’t get to experience people’s responses (other than the family and friends that you watch the broadcast premiere with). It wasn’t until the first film festival which was a few months after the broadcast premiere that we saw the film with real audiences and got a sense of people’s reactions. Reactions have been great: tears, thoughtful and engaged questions, concern for the Wang family and Dr. Wang, a desire to advocate on Dr. Wang’s behalf–everything we could have hoped for.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

The feedback has been incredibly positive. There have been a lot of tears. And we feel really privileged, every time to have touched people's hearts with this story.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

That as many people as possible will see the film and will feel motivated to write their members of parliament and congress people about Dr. Wang.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

Sales agents, buyers, and distributors please!

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

Ideally we would have liked to see the film lead to Dr. Wang’s release. We also hope–if people don’t already–that people will think about how human rights violations, even when they seem far removed from our own situations, affect us all. Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.” I think that is true and I hope our film, in some way, conveys that.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Who is on the side of what is 'right' in this story and why? How much would you be willing to sacrifice for the greater good?

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

Juliet recently produced and directed a ten-part documentary series called “Studios, Lofts & Jam Spaces” that premiered in the spring of 2017. Currently she is freelancing as a story producer while developing a new doc series.

Lorraine is currently directing and producing several projects including Collab (360 VR project), La Coiffeuse (short documentary), and The Letter Drawer (interactive documentary).

Interview: October 2017

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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

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Inside These Walls

Wang Bingzhang has spent the last 14 years in a Chinese prison. His family chooses to fight for the freedom of the man who once abandoned them.

Length: 44 minutes

Director: Juliet Lammers & Lorraine Price

Producer: John Christou & Aisling Chin-Yee

Writer: Juliet Lammers & Lorraine Price

About the writer, director and producer:

Key cast: Documentary follows Ti-Anna Wang, Chin Ning, Times Wang, Hans Ning, Bing Wu

Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Sales agents, buyers, and distributors

Social media handles: @InsideTheseWallsDocumentary

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InsideTheseWallsDocumentary/

Twitter: @ProspectorFilms

Funders: CBC, CMF, SODEC, CALQ, NFB

Made in association with: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation