Behind the Mask

The film records the experience of the Uyghur linguist Abduweli Ayup. After studying in the United States he returned home and worked to establish mother-tongue education for young children, only to be detained under ethnic policy and, after his release, forced into exile. Years later, so that the history would not be forgotten, he decided to face a past he would rather not revisit, travelling to Germany to confront a former guard from the detention camp. Can a conversation across such identity and such injury bring him the truth he has long been looking for?

Screenings of this film