CPH:DOX 2025 - Ai Weiwei's Turandot

Does an almost 100-year-old opera still have something to say about our own time? Chinese artist Ai Weiwei explores the question in his directorial debut as an opera director, with a radical reinterpretation of Puccini's masterpiece 'Turandot' at the beautiful and classic Teatro dell'Opera in Rome. 

Set in a mythical past in Beijing, the opera is both beloved and controversial - accused of exoticism, racist stereotypes and banned from being performed in China. Perhaps that's why Ai Weiwei chose to take it on. 

With his artistic vision, he uses Turandot to reflect today's global crises - from the war in Ukraine to refugee flows and pandemic. Maxim Derevianko's film follows the Chinese artist's creative process and shows how classical art can still provoke, challenge and perhaps even change our times.