Human Flow is a 2017 German[1] documentary film co-produced and directed by Ai Weiwei about the current global refugee crisis.

"[1] He notes that his film is extremely personal to him, relating to his past experiences of inhumane treatment after being forced out of his home in Beijing during China's Cultural Revolution.

With an analogy he makes the point of either building a dam to stop the flood, which would not solve the issue entirely and could intensify the outcomes, or finding a path to let the flow continue.

Relating dams to physical borders and walls, he encourages the understanding of the causes behind why people become refugees and how we should work to solve those conditions so to stem the flow at its source.

The EU requires responses to improve and enforce its charter on refugees[13] and Ai's efforts to expand this message has intensified with the creation of screening parties.

[17] His social commentaries on the refugee crisis relate to his personal life and how he was forced out of Beijing with his family as a young child during China's Cultural Revolution.

Various dignitaries are also included, such as Princess Dana Firas of Jordan who empathetically speaks about the current refugee crisis and conveys Jordan's response as “You must always hold on to humanity and the more immune you are to people’s suffering, I think, that’s very very dangerous.”[20] Ai also interviews Maha Yahya, from the Carnegie Middle East Center, who goes on to speak about radicalization effects on vulnerable youth.

Additionally, Ai introduces Dr. Cem Terzi from Turkey who works for the Association of Bridging Peoples[22] as well as Druze leader, Walid Joumblatt and Greece's Migration minister Ioannis Mouzalas.

Including various news sources juxtaposed with shots of the current crisis, the different chapters are intertwined throughout the film with Ai's artistic content quoting various poets from all around the world to make sense of the different situations.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Epic in scope yet clear-eyed and intimate, Human Flow offers a singularly expansive – and sobering – perspective on the global refugee crisis.

The use of aerial shots was listed to be a common element in the film, by which drones were used to display entire cityscapes of destruction and vast oceans to be crossed.

[2] The New York Times calls it a "strangely beautiful movie"[25] and credits the film for focusing on individuality amidst the large masses of people along with usage of drones to show the vastness and scale of our current global refugee crisis.

[26] The Washington Post calls Human Flow "pungent conceptually and aesthetically" and notes that perhaps the audience's uncertainty of what camp they are led to is perhaps Ai's point that this does not matter.