After graduating from Brown University in 2006, Alison Klayman headed to Beijing with little more than a desire to learn Mandarin and to work as a journalist. Although she modestly describes her path to filmmaker as “a coincidence,” it’s the hallmark of a savvy reporter that she knew a good story when she found one.

That story is Ai Weiwei, the avant-garde artist and political dissident who is far more famous in China than in the West. Ai’s profile is about to increase here, thanks to Klayman’s documentary, “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” opening Friday.