My VIFF description: Embedding herself in the village of Wukan, southern China, for several years starting in 2011, first time documentarist Jill Li essayed an unprecedented experiment in local democracy. Corrupt officials had illegally sold villagers’ land, but the villagers decided to fight back.

The documentary is divided into two halves: the first, "Protests", depicts the grassroots activities of Wukan residents as they work to reverse the land sales and gain a substantial measure of control over their local territory.…