The Baseball Field on the Plateau

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Creative Statement

From a stone thrown by a young shepherd to the winning pitch on the world stage: followed and filmed over eight years, a Tibetan boy who herded sheep by throwing stones breaks through one barrier after another and finally stands on the mound at the 2023 Asian Games to throw the winning pitch!

Synopsis

This is a sports documentary. Filming began in 2015 and has taken place in Qinghai, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Taiwan in China, as well as Seoul, Los Angeles, Arizona and Adelaide. Crossing regions, ethnic groups and cultures, it records a baseball story unfolding on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. A young Tibetan shepherd discovers a sport he had never heard of, which opens up his life and gives him a goal and a dream. With exceptional discipline and perseverance he becomes China's best left-handed pitcher, but loses his way when the world suddenly changes. Over nearly eight years I filmed them from age 13 to 20, recording many of the firsts in his life. Growing up, he faced countless concrete difficulties with language, daily habits and injuries; the impact of different cultures and values; and conflicts within his traditional Tibetan family. This is a dreamlike and romantic story born of the collision and fusion of different countries, ethnic groups and cultures, and a case study of an individual in the age of globalisation.

Running Time:

100 min

Genre:

Documentary

Director:

Wang Lu

Production Company:

Beijing Chiyu Film and Culture Co., Ltd. | Beijing Maijing Media Co., Ltd.

About the Director

Wang Lu: the project was supported by the 2015 "Hundred Filmmakers, Hundred Films, Chinese Dream" documentary program of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television; won the "Asian Pick" best pitch at The Asian Pitch 2019; was selected for the Documentary Lab of the 16th FIRST International Film Festival; and was selected for the documentary project markets of the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival (2019), the 3rd West Lake International Documentary Festival (2019) and the 2019 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival. Works: Golog Zhoujie, a feature documentary, winning pitch at the 7th MIDA Documentary Directors Program (2015); The Ancient Kingdoms Under the Luoyang Shovel, a documentary series, named an outstanding online documentary of 2022 by the National Radio and Television Administration; The Bronze Empire, a feature documentary, among the top ten feature documentaries at the 25th China Documentary Academic Awards; The Promise, a documentary series in the "Documenting China" international communication project of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee (State Council Information Office), which won the Outstanding Director Award among the 2020 outstanding domestic documentaries of the National Radio and Television Administration, was among the top ten series at the 27th China Documentary Academic Awards and won third prize for documentary among the 2020 outstanding works of China Media Group.

About the Production Company

Beijing Chiyu Film and Culture Co., Ltd.: founded in April 2023 by Zhang Chiyu, a director under contract with the leading Chinese comedy brand Mahua FunAge. Zhang Chiyu, a professional name written with different characters from his legal name, is the company's artistic director. Moon Man, which he wrote and directed, was the second-highest-grossing film in China in 2022 and received four Golden Rooster nominations, winning Best Art Direction and Best Music. Beijing Maijing Media Co., Ltd.: dedicated to the production and distribution of high-quality documentaries; the team aims to connect the cultural and creative industries with the world in real time and to increase the positive social impact and commercial value of its work.

Logline

From a stone thrown by a young shepherd to the winning pitch on the world stage!