Amid China's rapid modernisation, equality between women and men is an issue that cannot be ignored. In pursuing equality, overprotection can also cut women off from ordinary opportunities. Ice hockey is the concrete means through which the protagonists in the story fight for fairness. Even in places where the game is played at a high level, the older generation still holds that "hockey toughens boys, but it's dangerous for girls." Prejudice has to be broken. "Only you can take responsibility for your own choices."
Yuan Zhen takes over the girls' ice hockey team at Jianhua Middle School, hoping to get through a year of coaching so that she can qualify as a professional coach. Once she starts, she finds that the principal bans body contact in the girls' training to reassure parents; the girls' training always has to give way to the boys' team; and whenever the school holds a celebration, the girls are assigned to serve as ushers. Parents, the school and teachers all believe that "girls should act like girls, they can't possibly succeed, it's not good for a girl to be too outstanding..." These views, wrapped in "it's all for your own good", leave the girls confused and prejudiced against themselves. Though no one believes in them, Yuan Zhen keeps patiently guiding the girls to focus on themselves. But just as the team begins to improve, the principal orders that "the girls' team suspend training to make way for the boys' team's preparations". At the same moment, Yuan Zhen receives notice of a training camp for national team coaches. Will she choose her own future, or keep leading her team past every obstacle to break the prejudice?
Genre:
Drama, EducationDirector:
Hsu Hsiao-mingScreenwriter:
Xu Kunhua | Liang XiaoProducer:
Liang XiaoProduction Company:
Beijing Kuli Film and Television Production Co., Ltd.Executive Producer:
Ruby ChenHsu Hsiao-ming: A leading figure of the Taiwan New New Wave of the 1990s. His debut, Dust of Angels, was the closing film of the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival that year. Since 1990 he has produced more than 20 feature films and documentaries that have won many awards in China and abroad. This film will be his return to directing after many years.
Xu Kunhua: Graduated from Peking University. The first film she wrote, The Summer Is Gone, was nominated for Best Screenwriter in the Asian New Talent Award at the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2014. In 2020 she was head writer of The Rules of Ladies, the first long-form TV series produced by the Supreme People's Court. Liang Xiao: Has worked in the film industry for seven years and previously worked at CCTV-6 Movie Channel. Worked on production and marketing in China for Transformers: Age of Extinction. Other projects include Lost in Love, Soulmate, Line Walker and Bottle the Puppy.
Liang Xiao: Has worked in the film industry for seven years and previously worked at CCTV-6 Movie Channel. Worked on production and marketing in China for Transformers: Age of Extinction. Other projects include Lost in Love, Soulmate, Line Walker and Bottle the Puppy.
Beijing Kuli Film and Television Production Co., Ltd.: For many years Kuli Films has worked across a range of genres and subjects, making films that combine mainstream values with commercial appeal. Members of the company have won awards at the Golden Rooster Awards, the Shanghai International Film Festival, the Beijing International Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival and other major festivals in China and abroad. In 2019, Bottle the Puppy, produced by Kuli Films, won Best Children's Film at the 32nd China Golden Rooster Awards.
Ruby Chen: Co-founder and chair of Kuli Films; co-founder and CEO of CNEX. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves on the documentary selection committee for the Academy Awards. Films she has produced have won awards at Sundance, Venice, the Hong Kong Film Awards and other festivals and awards in China and abroad.
Former national player Yuan Zhen leads ten ice hockey girls no one believes in as they stand up to prejudice and show their confidence.