1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows

«1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows» - the memoirs of one of the most influential artists and activists of our time, Ai Weiwei, against the backdrop of the dramatic events in China's history over the last hundred years.

The son of the outstanding Chinese poet Ai Qing, who was persecuted during the years of the «cultural revolution», Ai Weiwei shared his family's fate in exile and now, recalling the memories of a terrible childhood, attempts to understand the connection of times. He tells of his own similar experience of enduring violence and humiliation, of the difficult decision to leave his family to study art in America - where he later befriended Allen Ginsberg, was inspired by the works of Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp. Openly and wittily, he describes the details of his return to his homeland and his rise - from an unknown artist to a superstar of world art and an international human rights advocate, showing how life under a totalitarian regime influenced his creativity.