Movies That Matter on Tour - Total Trust

Every year, since 2006, the Movies That Matter Film Festival takes place in The Hague, a festival that strives to broaden perspectives on human rights in order to draw attention to pressing social issues.

This screening is part of the monthly Movies That Matter On Tour programme, which presents the festival's best films in many Dutch film theatres, including Rialto. After the film, there will be a programme that delves deeper into the issues raised in the film.

Total Trust

Things have been slowing down in China in recent years: the economy is starting to falter, the number of social problems is only increasing. No wonder this leads to unest among the Chinese public and even to political activism. The Chinese regime wants nothing to do with this and does everything it can to quell potential resistance. The main weapon the government uses to do this is a sophisticated digital system, which allows the government to track and monitor its citizens day and night, identifying undesirable as well as praiseworthy behaviour. In this way, the Chinese government hopes to predict where and when its citizens will stir.

This documentary by Chinese-American filmmaker Jialing Zhang shows what this digital surveillance looks like in practice and features people affected by it; from very ordinary citizens to critical people like lawyers and journalists.