The Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei was named by ArtReview as the most influential artist in the world, yet there’s nary a paintbrush to be seen in Alison Klayman’s smart, funny, deeply committed film. Ai’s big-concept projects include a room filled with tens of millions of hand-painted faux sunflower seeds, crafted out of porcelain; the phenomenal Beijing stadium The Bird’s Nest; and a spreadsheet documenting each of the more than 5,000 students buried alive in shoddy public buildings after an earthquake. Whether tweeting a f***-you message about Chinese officials, getting beaten by police or spelling out a poem made of 5,000 backpacks on the front of a Munich museum, Ai transmutes protest into a mind-expanding, heartful and sometimes brutally funny form of expression, as China wages war with its conscience. (U.S., 2012, 91m, digital video, IFC Films)

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry opens theatrically at the CCA on August 17. SITE Santa Fe’s “More Real: Art in the Age of Truthiness,” featuring works by Ai Weiwei and others, continues through January 6, 2013.