Zhang Ji
Winner Profile
Best Screenplay
Screenwriter, Leap
Jury Citation
Drawing on the nearly 40-year struggle of the Chinese women's volleyball team, Zhang Ji, screenwriter of Leap, renews the narrative model of the traditional sports film. Using three key matches as the main thread, the screenplay tells of the team's hard road to championships and the true aspirations and firm convictions of its players and coaches. The characters are full and three-dimensional, and the dramatic structure is complex and deep. It is a work with historical substance and the spirit of its time. Winner of Best Screenplay.
Leap: Synopsis
On August 15, 2008, China plays the United States in the women's volleyball tournament of the Beijing Olympics. Wearing gold-rimmed glasses, Lang Ping (Gong Li) sits on the US team bench, composed, with a piercing gaze. The Chinese team's coach (Huang Bo) stands on the sideline, focused and smiling. He looks toward Lang Ping with a meaningful gaze as passing figures block his view, and the story of more than 30 years of ups and downs of the Chinese women's volleyball team slowly unfolds...