Farmers and workers posted big character posters (dazibao) on the Democracy Wall, expressing grievances suffered during the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976) and demanding reparations for deaths, torture and arbitrary imprisonment of family members.

Artists and essayists also began to post unofficial art works and writings on the wall from underground magazines that bucked official propaganda, criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and called for democracy.

At Democracy Wall, the artists pushed the limits of free speech by posting prohibited art forms such as abstraction and nudity, photos and poetry depicting everyday life, as well as sculpture critical of the CCP.

[5] For the first time ever, Beijing Spring shows 16-mm footage of the illegal 1979 Stars art exhibit hung on the iron fence of the National Museum, as well as modern China's first protest rally and march through the city streets.

Dozens of art pieces created by the unofficial Stars artists are presented in the film, paying tribute to the courage of the artists/activists of the time who dared break with the restrictive aesthetic mandates laid down by Maoist policy.

The story is told through archival images and audio recordings, art works and recent testimonies from participants of the Stars including Ai Weiwei, Ma Desheng, Huang Rui, Wang Keping, Qu Leilei, Li Shuang and Shao Fei among others.

The reviews were positive, valuing the film's dramatic storyline and intricate weave of archival footage, photos, art, poetry, music, dance, underground magazines as well as testimony from the Democracy Wall artists and activists who battled totalitarianism.