In the Name of Confucius

In the Name of Confucius is the first documentary exposé of China’s multi-billion dollar Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and culture program set up in partnership with foreign educational institutions. Since 2004, CIs have found their way into over 1,500 universities and schools worldwide, including some 500 in the US. Featuring Canada’s largest school board which is slated to open the world’s largest Confucius Institute, and the exclusive personal story of a former CI teacher, Sonia Zhao, whose defection and discrimination complaint let to the first ever closure of a CI on a North American campus, the film examines the growing global controversies surrounding the Confucius Institutes - a loss of academic integrity, violations to human rights codes, foreign influence, and even potential infringements on national security. The re-enactments star Anastasia Lin, the outspoken Miss World Canada who was barred from entering China to compete at the Miss World pageant because of her criticisms to China’s human rights record. (Orlando Film Festival)