Garden of Little Beasts

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Creative Statement

As a former student athlete, I have long wanted to tell a story about children who fight for their dreams. Competitive sport is cruel: there is only one champion, and in our culture only victory seems worth celebrating and only perseverance worth praising. Many children struggling on this narrow bridge either give up halfway or come back defeated. But the youth they burn in pursuit of their dreams may be just as passionate and remarkable. The film follows two girls on a grassroots gymnastics team and tells how they shape each other as they grow up. Through their restless youth, I want to sing the praises of the most ordinary athletes striving for their goals in life.

Synopsis

A lost competition and a training plateau she cannot get past leave Yiyi, a 15-year-old gymnast, facing a harsh choice: retire now, or keep chasing an out-of-reach gymnastics dream? At a loss, she finds her last chance at the Huayuan Road gymnastics training camp, and she must stake everything on her future. Timid Yiyi is fired up by a rival at the camp, the rebellious Xiaofei. The two very different girls quietly compete and end up as close friends. Free-spirited Xiaofei proposes a plan to "defect", and out of loyalty Yiyi goes with her. The two girls enjoy their "stolen" freedom, but pay a price for it... Winter gives way to spring, and Yiyi and Xiaofei meet again at the national championships. The close friends of the past are now opponents. This time, can Yiyi overcome her fear and beat the rival she knows best?

Genre:

Drama, Coming-of-age, Sports

Director/Screenwriter:

Miao Youchen

Producer:

Han Tian | Feng Zuolin

Production Company:

Beijing Zhongli International Pictures Co., Ltd.

About the Director/Screenwriter

Miao Youchen: Young director and screenwriter. She holds a bachelor's degree from the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, with a second degree in digital media design, and a master's degree in film production from Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Chapman University. She was B-camera operator on Zhang Yimou's theatrical film Cliff Walkers. Her short drama Thicker than Water won the Gold Award at the 24th Directors Guild of America Student Film Awards; her short drama Prince in a Jar won a Gold Award at the 2018 Independent Shorts Awards and Best Director at the 2018 LAFA Film Festival in Los Angeles.

About the Producer

Han Tian: Founder and CEO of Zhongli Pictures, founder of Baize Future Culture, young film producer, graduated from the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University. Presenter and co-producer of Suburban Birds, selected for the Filmmakers of the Present section of the 73rd Locarno Film Festival and winner of Best Feature Film at the 12th FIRST International Film Festival Xining. Presenter and producer of Night After Night, selected for the main competition (Crouching Tigers) of the 3rd Pingyao International Film Festival and winner of the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Award for Best Screenplay at the 56th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg. Presenter and co-producer of the documentaries Sing a Song of the River and Life in Smoke and Fire. Feng Zuolin: Young producer, project director of Zhongli Pictures and founding partner of Baize Future Culture. Graduated in film production from Arizona State University and studied integrated marketing at New York University as a graduate student. Co-producer of the documentary Life in Smoke and Fire and the play Hippolytus, and producer of the film At the End of the Road.

About the Production Company

Beijing Zhongli International Pictures Co., Ltd.: Zhongli Pictures is a film company that combines development, investment and production of content by young filmmakers with talent management. Starting from the perspective of young people today, it creates film and television content with social observation, humanistic concern and artistic exploration. Representative works: Night After Night, Sing a Song of the River, Suburban Birds, Life in Smoke and Fire, At the End of the Road, Garden of Little Beasts, Wandering in the Long Night and others.

Logline

Two very different gymnasts meet at a training camp that will decide their fate, and instead of training hard, they plot to "defect".