Li Qi works for a dolphin show, his friend Ren Yu works karaoke on the beach along the coast where they live. When a young woman Bai Ling joins the two men, a three-way relationship seems possible. Together, they set out to test the limitations of a restrictive society and their own sexuality. But a shocking event that rocks them to the core will have a deep and lasting effect on them.

A performance artist approaches a dais with a quiet formality, then proceeds to slowly and deliberately slice a series of cuts into her face with a razor. A doctoral student/filmmaker, under house arrest and constant surveillance, walks up to a vehicle following her and holds up a sign saying, “Shame to insult a woman.” Female factory workers describe being arrested and harassed when they stand up for their rights.
Shot over eight years, OUTCRY AND WHISPER is a highly personal and sometimes uncomfortably intimate documentary chronicling women’s oppression and resistance in mainland China and Hong Kong. One remarkable and tumultuous sequence is shot in the midst of Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrations.