For Jamie Horsley, Deputy Director of the China Law Center and Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer in Law at the Yale Law School, the recent progress in China's legal system is "really amazing." At a preview screening of The People's Court organized by New York-based Asia Society, Horsley recalled China in the 1980s, when there were few lawyers and courts did not function well.

China has been moving from an old "rule by man" system to the more modern system to support its transition to a market economy, said Horsley.

"They developed what you might call ‘the rule by law,' where the government uses the law as a tool to deal with private relations," Horsley said, adding that the next step to move to the rule of law "is really going to impose constraints on the government's action itself." That's the hardest step, she said.

The future of China's legal system is brighter than what could have been imagined in the 1980s, she said, as ordinary Chinese have a greater legal consciousness and are starting to exert their rights to a greater extent, just like Li Yaoquan in the documentary.

"It's amazing how outspoken people are getting and how much they have a sense of injustice and what justice is and demanding it. I think this will propel the government," Horsley said, after she watched The People's Court.

Still agreed, saying that many Chinese she had met considered the media, and her film, as a channel to publicize their legal needs and disputes.

"It really didn't matter whether we were a Western or Chinese film crew, many people just saw our camera and used it as an opportunity to come and talk to us," Still said, recalling her experience of shooting the documentary in Sichuan. She said she felt strongly that the people in the rural areas want to tell the rest of China what's going on around them-be it about corruption, injustice or the environment.

The enthusiasm of the film's subjects is one of the reasons that both Horsley and Still said they are optimistic about the prospect of China's legal system.

However, getting to "the rule of law" will not be an easy or rapid transition. Many real problems still slow the development, Horsley said. It is this complex state of reality versus ambition that Still and her production team, including Director Bruno Sorrentino, wanted to present to the audience--a comprehensive and true picture of China's legal revolution, she said.

The People's Court also documents how law students at Sichuan University hold mock trials as part of their education and features a judge bringing her mobile court to a village to resolve a farmer's dispute over trivial matters, a crusading lawyer defending village rioters against a massive dam project and a first-time robber being sentenced to six years, among other stories.

The transformation of China's legal system is not yet completed, and many in China don't feel they are getting a fair deal, said Still. They still see a society with one set of rules for the rich and not many legal rights for the poor, she said. The government has a big task on its hands to "put in place a whole legal system from scratch," she added.

Still also pointed out that even though China is in its early days of legal reform, with many lingering problems, the country has achieved a lot. At the very least, "things are becoming more open in China," Still said.

Although it took Still and her team several years to get approval from the relevant Chinese authorities to film in the Chinese courts, they didn't have to get the footage checked and approved before they took it out of China and aired the film overseas.

In The People's Court, villager Li Yaoquan finally got his case settled and received 400 yuan as compensation from his neighbor with the mediation of the itinerant judges. Though the compensation was about 10 times less than he originally asked for, Li said he was satisfied with the result. He said he believed the judges were truly concerned about his case and were fair.

There are no plans yet to show the documentary in China, according to Still, but she said that she hopes it will soon be introduced to the Chinese audience. For those who do not see the law as relevant to them and use it to protect their rights, Li Yaoquan's first experience with the court might provide good inspiration.

(Reporting from New York)