Official Trailer for ‘Total Trust’ Doc About Surveillance Tech in China

Official Trailer for ‘Total Trust’ Doc About Surveillance Tech in China

by Alex Billington
November 14, 2023
Source: YouTube

“There are special residents we can keep an eye on.” Film Movement has unveiled an official US trailer for a documentary film from China called Total Trust, a fascinating and scary inside look at China’s surveillance programs. It’s set for a US release this December during the awards season. You’ve probably heard about it in the news already, about China’s freaky social currency + monitoring programs, with points-based systems to keep people in line. For two decades, China has implemented cutting-edge security and surveillance to monitor its citizens. Total Trust is a documentary about surveillance technology and censorship that follows the stories of people in China who have been monitored and tracked. A warning for democracies, it sounds an alarm about the increasing worldwide use of surveillance tools. In the film, two families fight for justice from within the digital prison of the Chinese surveillance state. An important cautionary tale & harrowing look at what can happen anywhere in the world if governments, and citizens, don’t stop it first. Take a look.

Here’s the official US trailer (+ poster) for Jialing Zhang’s doc Total Trust, direct from YouTube:

For two decades, China has implemented cutting-edge security and surveillance to monitor its citizens. In this fascinating and chilling documentary, Jialing Zhang (co-director of One Child Nation) immerses us in this daily reality: half a billion cameras pointed at the populace, invasive neighborhood watch programs (“Sharp Eyes”), employees monitored for stress levels, and a “social credit” point system that rewards for community service & penalizes perceived societal infractions. With the assistance of dozens of anonymous locals, Zhang focuses mainly on three courageous women fighting for civil liberties and justice, including independent journalist Sophia Xueqin Huang, one of the first Chinese reporters to investigate #MeToo accusations and subsequently arrested for ‘inciting subversion of state power.’ Total Trust is directed by Chinese filmmaker Jialing Zhang, director of Complicit and co-director of One Child Nation previously. Produced by Michael Grotenhoff, Knut Jäger, Saskia Kress, and Jialing Zhang. Film Movement will debut Total Trust in select US theaters starting on December 8th, 2023 this fall. For more info, visit their site.

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