Project Awards
10th Silk Road International Film Festival, Golden Silk Road Award Main Competition (Selected) / 20th Beijing International Sports Film Week, Outstanding Works: Sports Feature Film Section (Selected)
Rooftop Soccer
Creative Statement
1. This is an inspirational film about girls who fight for control over their own fate and win dignity. It is uplifting and warm. 2. Set in a remote mountain area of Yunnan and built around football, the film shows the tenacious, never-say-die spirit of mountain children striving to change their fate. The protagonist keeps working for her sister, her mother and her family. The film hopes to turn society's spotlight on every child who has a dream. 3. The film combines popular elements such as youth, dreams and football, and is an inspirational film for audiences.
Synopsis
In Tuanhuashu, a small mountain village in Yunnan, the houses are built against the hillside and their rooftops join together, used for drying corn. Ayimei, who loves football, and her friends are always kicking pomelos they have picked back and forth across the rooftops, often throwing the village into chaos. Because of the villagers' complaints, her older sister Ayiduo often scolds her and forbids her to play football again. From Shi Kai, a drunkard, Ayimei learns that playing football can get you on TV, and being on TV could let her mother, who left home years ago and has not been heard from since, see her. With this goal, Ayimei quietly resolves to form a team. The villagers think it is natural for boys to play football, but that girls who play are neglecting their proper duties, so Ayimei and her friends meet setbacks everywhere. When Ayimei is bullied, her sister stands up for her and joins the team as goalkeeper, which encourages Ayimei greatly. Shi Kai sets a harsh task to avoid becoming their coach, but Ayimei, who does not give up easily, completes it. From then on, the drunkard Shi Kai leads this group of girls, who used to play on the rooftops, onto an extraordinary football journey. A girls' football team from the rooftops of the mountains quietly rises through wind and rain. On the road to their dream, the sisters Ayiduo and Ayimei overcome many difficulties and emotional trials and grow up against the odds.
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Release Date:
April 20, 2024 (Chinese Mainland) -
Genre:
Inspirational, Family Bonds, Girls, Sports
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Selection Year and Section:
2021 Work-in-Progress Section, Top 8 -
Director:
Liao Feiyu
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Screenwriter:
Xiong Hui | Xie Xun | Jia Zhijie -
Starring:
Tang Liangfeng | Shi Junxian | Tan Xinyu | Chen Siyan
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Producer:
Wang Zhonglei | Ren Ning | Wang Manli -
Production Company:
Liying Culture Media (Yunnan) Co., Ltd.
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Executive Producer:
Huang Jianxin
About the Director
Liao Feiyu: selected for the Jackie Chan Film Project A in 2016; selected for the Shanghai International Film Festival's Chinese New Directors Program in 2018; selected as a member of the Beijing International Film Festival's Young Screenwriters Training Camp in 2019; selected for the Beijing Film Association's Capital Young Film Talent Training Program in 2021. The screenplay Shadow King was selected among the ten China-Europe films of the Dragon Leap Project at the Cannes Film Festival.
About the Production Company
Liying Culture Media (Yunnan) Co., Ltd.: the company is committed to "telling good stories and making classic films".
Logline
Two young sisters searching for their mother far from home, a fruit seller who drinks too much, and a match that changes their fate.