The Basic Method for Growing Taller

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Creative Statement

The story begins with a scam advertisement in a pirated magazine that was a household name in the late 1990s. The advertisement promised that "American Quick Growth" would make you 10 centimetres taller in 20 days. The product may well be fake, but the protagonist stubbornly believes it must be real. Through the adventures of the young "heroes" in the story, we try to convey a small message: if you don't start tilling the soil, no one will promise you a rose garden.

Synopsis

In the sunny summer of 1998, Huo Yishuang, from a small northern town, is 12 years old but only 1.2 metres tall, which troubles him greatly in the summer between primary and middle school. He tries countless home remedies to grow taller, all of which fail, until "American Quick Growth" appears in a pirated copy of Story Magazine and gives him hope. To buy the miracle height-increasing medicine, Huo Yishuang gathers his friends to start making money. Even under pressure from both family and society, these boys are not afraid!

Genre:

Adventure, Comedy, Coming-of-age

Director:

Li Hao | Zhao Naifu

Screenwriter:

Li Hao

Producer:

Cheung Shing-sheung

Production Company:

Mancai (Tianjin) Film and Culture Co., Ltd.

Executive Producer:

Cheung Shing-sheung

About the Director

Li Hao: graduate of the screenwriting program of the Beijing Film Academy; screenwriter and assistant director of Crossing the Styx, a Beijing Film Academy joint graduation project. He took part in writing the iQIYI web series Tientsin Mystic and The Fierce City, and was story consultant on the series Operation Great Wall, Crossing the Furious Sea and Awaken. Selected for the annual film projects of the 16th FIRST International Film Festival project market and for the 2022 FIRST Genre Film Lab. Zhao Naifu: graduate of the screenwriting program of the Beijing Film Academy; director and screenwriter of Crossing the Styx, a Beijing Film Academy joint project. Cinematographer of the feature documentary The Mind of the Blade; director, cinematographer and editor of the feature documentaries Spear Tassel and Heaven, Earth, Man, and of the feature documentary Treasure Land at the Door. Selected for the annual film projects of the 16th FIRST International Film Festival project market and for the 2022 FIRST Genre Film Lab.

About the Screenwriter

About the Producer

Cheung Shing-sheung: former CEO of Emperor Motion Pictures and of Han Media Group, adviser to Huace Pictures, and visiting lecturer on the entertainment and cultural industries at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Selected works: SPL: Sha Po Lang, The Twins Effect, Dad's Vacation, Floating City, Xinyue's Fairy Tale, Protégé de la Rose Noire, Dry Wood Fierce Fire and Roommates.

About the Production Company

Mancai (Tianjin) Film and Culture Co., Ltd.: a company engaged in the investment, development, production, shooting and distribution of film and television projects and related industries.

Logline

An adventure of dreams and determination centred on a group of boys in 1998. Although it is a coming-of-age story, it is aimed at adult audiences.