In 2015, human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang vanished without a trace. His wife Li Wenzu assumed he had been detained, but had no certainty for several months. Li is a woman of extraordinary courage who would not let herself be intimidated. She wrote articles and posted them on the internet, contacted supporters and politicians abroad, and set the machinery of all the official channels in motion. She became the visible force leading the campaign and advocating for the release of her husband and others.
Li Wenzu’s husband was one of dozens of attorneys who disappeared the same day, along with many activists. It had been a genuine mass arrest, but the authorities had obviously not anticipated her response. Li’s story of courageous love is the focus of the documentary film, third person. The film follows Li and other wives of detained human rights lawyers as they fight for justice and their loved ones’ freedom in China’s oppressive political climate. The story depicts the impact of political persecution on families and individuals and the valiant efforts of activists to bring about change against all odds.
