Reeducated is an award-winning documentary that takes viewers inside a detention camp in Xinjiang, China, exposing what is likely the largest internment of ethnic and religious minorities since the Second World War.
Over the past four years, Chinese authorities have turned Xinjiang, the largest region in the country, into one of the most advanced police states in the world. In the spring of 2017, officials in Xinjiang began imprisoning thousands of Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other predominantly Muslim minorities in secret extrajudicial detention camps.
Developed by Ben Mauk and Sam Wolson, this first-ever virtual-reality New Yorker documentary is guided by three men who were imprisoned together at the same facility. Their recollections reveal the secret world of these camps, where detainees spend ten hours a day in classrooms — studying Chinese or taking classes focussed on political indoctrination and the dangers of Islam — and often endure torture and stints in solitary confinement. Drawn from firsthand testimony, satellite images, and survivor sketches, Reeducated uses pen and brush animation to reconstruct the men’s shared experiences in an immersive three-dimensional space.
The companion piece to “Inside Xinjiang’s Prison State,” an immersive feature investigation, Reeducated premiered this March at SXSW 2021, where the film won the Special Jury Recognition for Immersive Journalism. Reeducated has since screened in dozens of film festivals around the world, receiving the grand prize at VRHAM! Virtual Reality & Arts Festival in Hamburg and the Special Jury Prize at NewImages Festival in Paris. The film was a Best of VR selection of the Venice Biennale and was selected as one of four award-winning experiences in the 2022 Horizons VR exhibition at the PHI Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Reeducated is currently nominated for an Emmy Award in Outstanding Interactive Media. Қазақ тілінде көріңіз (тек Қазақстанда) 
Reviews
Foreign Policy: "Reeducated is as haunting as it is artistically impressive. The film’s detailed black and white ink illustrations, hand-drawn by artist Matt Huynh, are intricate and gorgeous, and lace together a poignant, heartbreaking depiction of the narrators’ experiences. ... It's impossible to look away." IndieWire: "a haunting, lyrical representation ... Reeducated seems like an obvious frontrunner for the Emmy in Outstanding Interactive Program; the medium injects immediacy into stories of persecution that might otherwise seem tragic but remote." SXSW Virtual Cinema Judges: "Reeducated offers a glimpse into a horrifying world obscured from public view. ... It’s a striking piece of 360 cinema that makes a clear argument for the unique affordances of immersive formats for telling stories, establishing a powerful logic and vocabulary through the use of composition, scale, pace, and perspective.” Online News Awards Judges: "What a powerhouse of a piece. This is new and uses all types of immersive techniques to tell this compelling story. The combination of illustrations merges with 360 images, tiny planets, VR and parallax storytelling sets a new, high bar." XRMagazine: "This is a work of true journalism -- the kind of journalism that can make a difference and change you at your core. ... It is also a beautiful piece of art, both as an interactive feature and as a VR film." Oregon Artswatch: "The project that will stick with me [from the Venice Biennale's VR programming] is Reeducated ... It’s one thing to read an article about prison camps in Xinjiang, but bearing virtual witness to their experience is more visceral, more affecting, and therefore more effective in raising awareness..." Press The New Yorker Radio Hour with Ben Mauk and Raffi Khatchadourian The Postscript: Stories That Matter with Ben Mauk Variety: Despite extensive news reporting about China’s secretive “reeducation” camps, it is difficult to imagine what it’s like for more than a million Uyghur, Kazakh and other minorities detained inside. [Reeducated] aims to put you in their shoes — almost literally — with the help of virtual reality technology." Human Rights Film Festival (Berlin) Podcast A Good Refugee Podcast with Ben Mauk and Mehmet Tohti Quan Arribin Els Marcians [TV interview in Catalan]: "«Reeducated» is a stunning short film that recreates one of these facilities, according to eye-witnesses. The film makes clear that there’s a thin line separating reeducation from torture." Eyebeam: "This was one of the most ambitious projects ECFJ has supported since the program debuted in 2018, and it underscores why the program was launched." Credits
Featuring Erbaqyt Otarbai Orynbek Koksebek Amanzhan Seituly Project Developed by Ben Mauk Sam Wolson Director Sam Wolson Artist Matt Huynh Research and Reporting Ben Mauk Executive Producers Soo-Jeong Kang Monica Racic Lead Animator and Technical Supervisor Nicholas Rubin Senior Editor Brian Redondo Producers Ben Mauk Sam Wolson Nicholas Rubin Matt Huynh Sound Designer/Composer Jon Bernson Assistant Animator Oliver Carr Lead Compositor Noel Paul VFX Artist Eddy Moya Story Edit Ben Mauk Sam Wolson Animation Studio Dirt Empire Titles Designer Maxx Berkowitz Additional Title Designer Sandra Garcia Color Grading Noel Paul Ink Bleed Matvey Rezanov Artist Assistant M. J. Steele English-Language Recording Engineer Asqat Yerkimbay Kazakh/English Audio Asqat Yerkimbay Baubek Sagyndyq English-Language Voice-Over Artists Nurbek Matzhani Asqat Yerkimbay Anonymous Kazakh-Language Recording Engineer Sam Wolson Transcription and Translations Dauren Aben Anonymous Map Locations of Detention Centers Nathan Ruser Australian Strategic Policy Institute Fact Checker Linnea Feldman Emison Singing Erbaqyt Otarbai Special Thanks Gene Bunin The Xinjiang Victims Database Nathan Ruser Darren Byler Sonya Teich Christina Gossmann Carleen Coulter 
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