This article was taken from the July 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
Jason Wishnow is no stranger to difficult shoots. As the former director of film and video at TED, Wishnow, 40, has worked with CEOs and celebrities; he once helped organise a talk streamed live from the International Space Station: "The astronaut would phone me for shooting advice from space," he recalls. For his latest solo project, the New York-based film-maker faced his greatest challenge yet: making a sci-fi short starring artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, in Beijing, under surveillance by the Chinese government. But even he didn't foresee how tricky it would become.
The project began in 2012, when Wishnow went to visit Weiwei's studio whilst on a sabbatical in Beijing. (The pair had previously corresponded for Weiwei's smuggled TED talk in 2011.) Wishnow arrived in the city just after 79 people died in Beijing's worst rainstorm for 60 years. "We started talking about this recent disaster in the city, the internet, the flow of information," says Wishnow. Struck by inspiration, Wishnow pitched the idea for The Sand Storm. The ten-minute short stars Weiwei -- in his acting debut -- as the Delivery Man, a water smuggler in a future in which the government stages systematic droughts -- a metaphor, among other things, for state censorship.
Shooting took place in secret over two days in January 2013. As well as the challenge of shooting a film with one of China's most famous political activists, the crew had to deal with Beijing's then record-breaking smog. "The production was kept low-key and most of the film was shot inside," says Wishnow. "We worked fast."
By April, the project had raised more than $95,000 (£56,000) on Kickstarter to fund post-production and marketing. The soundtrack was recorded at Abbey Studios; Wishnow envisioned a full-length feature. Then, as Wired went to press, the film took on a drama of its own. Weiwei -- who is fighting to get his passport back from the Chinese authorities -- released a statement disassociating himself from the film and condemning Wishnow for "misleading and deceptive conduct". The Kickstarter campaign was suspended pending copyright claims. (Wishnow, meanwhile, did not respond to requests for comment.) This dystopian tale could yet deliver a final twist.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
