Please Vote For Me

Wuhan is a city in central China about the size of London, and it is here that director Weijun Chen has conducted an experiment in democracy. Third graders at Evergreen Primary School have their first encounter with democracy by holding an election to select a Class Monitor, as eight-year-olds compete against each other for the coveted position, abetted and egged on by teachers and doting parents. Elections in China take place only within the Communist Party, but recently millions of Chinese voted in their version of Pop Idol. The purpose of Weijun Chen’s experiment is to determine how, if democracy came to China, it would be received. Is democracy a universal value that fits human nature? Do elections inevitably lead to manipulation? Please Vote for Me is a portrait of a society and a town through a school, its children, and its families.