Total Trust

For more than two decades the Chinese government has been using smart technology, such as voice and face recognition, to collect data and test each citizen’s trustworthiness. Zhang follows three stories of ubiquitous surveillance and control: a human rights lawyer who’s been imprisoned for just doing his job; an independent journalist whose activities are beginning to attract police attention; and a lawyer who’s been released from prison but finds his activities are strictly curtailed. After co-directing One Child Nation, Chinese-born US-based Zhang was unable to return to China. She directed Total Trust remotely, and many of the crew are listed as ‘anonymous’ ­– driving home the sinister nature of state surveillance.