SHE, A CHINESE Running Time: 98mins For further information: Natasha Dack/Atessa Hoomani Tigerlily Films tel: +44 (0) 20 77299845/ 07973 62498 Email: [email protected]/[email protected] Warp X/ Tigerlily (Chinoise) Limited, 2CO4 Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road E1 6LA Tel: +44 (0) 20 7729 9845 A young Chinese girl discovers the world and herself as she travels from East to West. SHORT SYNOPSIS She, A Chinese tells the story of, a young Chinese woman, MEI, who leaves her monotonous village life behind for the excitement of the nearest big city, Chongqing. However, life there doesn't quite turn out as she expected it; fired from her factory job, she falls in love with SPIKEY, a hit man whose own past soon catches up with him. A spur of the moment decision takes Mei to London, where she marries an elderly man, MR HUNT. A new life begins for Mei, trapped in the silence of Mr Hunt's house, alienated and bored. Her frustration at life with Mr Hunt leads Mei into an affair with RACHID, an Indian immigrant who runs a local take away restaurant, and she moves into the backroom of the restaurant to live with him. Rachid decides to return to his own country, leaving Mei pregnant and alone, facing an uncertain future. LONG SYNOPSIS Mei, a young village woman, leads a monotonous life in her dusty hometown in rural China. She works in a billiards hall and randomly dates local boys - the highlight of her days is borrowing a walkman to listen to pop music and sifting through rubbish imported from the west at the local recycling plant. The summer is unbearably hot and her heart is unfulfilled. One day, she ups and leaves. Arriving in Chongqing, she starts working in a factory sewing shirts. But she is soon fired and ends up sweeping the floor in a hair salon. She is drawn to a young man named Spikey, who, like her, is a village peasant struggling in the big city. Spikey works as a hit-man and an occasional killer for local mafia. She cuts his hair; he is attracted to her. One lonely night, Spikey returns home after a job, covered in blood before dying in front of Mei. Finding a stash of money underneath his bed, she takes it and leaves for England. Managing to stay in England illegally, and after a succession of poorly paid jobs, she marries Mr. Hunt, a seventy-year-old Englishman. A new life begins; foreign, alienated, in the silence of Mr. Huntʼs house. Although Mr. Hunt teaches her about life, she feels imprisoned, controlled and unloved. Eventually, she ends up in the back room of a restaurant with Rachid, another foreigner in England. She clings strongly to him, sexually and spiritually. Rachidʼs body is now Meiʼs harbour, and sex is her only way of communicating in a world she understands nothing of. She feels love for him, for the first time in her life, but Rachid has a completely different way of life, and wants to return to his own country. Mei leaves the restaurant she thought for a while was her home. She wanders aimlessly in a strange land, while in her body, Rachidʼs child painfully kicks her ribs. Warp X/ Tigerlily (Chinoise) Limited, 2CO4 Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road E1 6LA Tel: +44 (0) 20 7729 9845 DIRECTORS STATEMENT XIAOLU GUO As a mainland Chinese filmmaker, I think world cinema needs to move away from its focus on specific cultural identities - to go further, and to do something broader and wilder. My ambition is to make a film that challenges the traditional Chinese cinema style, and to cross over cultural borders, with a fresh artistic language and a personal voice. Also, I want to make a film with a strong attitude coming from the younger generation in modern China, speaking about the contemporary issues among young people in a globalised world. I feel that although Chinese cinema has recently attracted a lot of attention all over the world, most successful Chinese films have “Chinese politics” or “an exotic China” as their main themes or subjects. Sometimes I feel "people" are absent. In this film, I want to portrait a character with a ʻprivateʼ voice that audiences can closely relate to and identify with. She, A Chinese - Mei is an enigmatic character. You, as a member of the audience, try to read her, to follow her, and to understand her behavior and her decisions on her life. Maybe you fail to understand her - perhaps she upsets you and disturbs you. Maybe you donʼt agree with her and are confused by her, but you are still strongly attracted by her and, after you leave the cinema, you will start to examine your own familiar world with new eyes. I also wanted to shape the male characters, Spikey, Mr. Hunt and Rachid to have unique personalities from their own history. A Chinese hit man, an old English man, an Indian immigrant - all three are no heroes, or maybe even losers - but they have a particular way of clinging to society and of proving themselves necessary in a harsh society. When Mei leaves her village and goes on her journey, it is like a baby leaving the womb. The world outside is the foreign country, whether she is in China or in the West. For me, it is not important to show where Mei ends up exactly at the end of the film. But it is crucial to show the process of leaving. I think it is more about the inner journey she is going through, about a person taking risks, discovering herself and at the same time paying a high price for her adventures. It is a film about an immature person starting to see herself and to gradually feel her own desires. In the end she has to face her own problems and take responsibility by making decisions for her life. So the rhythm of the film has a rapid style, broken down into short, sharp chapters. There is a punk rock and roll energy in the soundtrack. The open ending of the film which Mei walks by the seaside presents an unknown future of new China – risky, mysterious, and provocative. As a filmmaker who was born in a little village in rural China, who later came all the way to Beijing and then studied in the West, I feel that any journey is a mind journey, colliding with a person's destiny and the accidental choices of life, creating a completely unexpected present and an enigmatic future. Thatʼs how we feel we are alive, and this aliveness carries us to the future. Warp X/ Tigerlily (Chinoise) Limited, 2CO4 Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road E1 6LA Tel: +44 (0) 20 7729 9845 CAST BIOGRAPHIES MEI- Huang Lu Huang Lu graduated from Beijing Film Academy, School of Acting in 2007. She acted in several films before she graduated, including Before Born directed by Zhang Ming and The Seven Stages of Bamboo Grove directed by Yang Fudong. In 2007 she played the lead role in Blind Mountain directed by Li Yang which was in the official selection for Un Certain Regard at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, and The Red Awn directed by Cai Shangjun which one prizes at both Pusan International Film Festival and Thessalonica Film Festival. Since then she has starred in two more features Fallen From The Sky and She, A Chinese. SPIKEY- Wei Yibo Prior to playing Spikey in She, A Chinese, Wei Yibo worked in both film and television in China. His filmography boasts, The Engine directed by Zhu Xiaowei, Lust, Caution Directed by Ang Lee, Fat Summer Camp directed by Hei Wei and Smile of Sword Master directed by He Zhilianng. He has also starred in a number of TV series such as Promise not Separate House directed by Wang Go Xian and Severe Sick Room directed by Fan Xiuming. Warp X/ Tigerlily (Chinoise) Limited, 2CO4 Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road E1 6LA Tel: +44 (0) 20 7729 9845 MR. HUNT- Geoffrey Hutchings Geoffrey Hutchings has an impressive career working in theatre, television, film and radio. He trained at RADA and was an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His work at the RSC, over 16 consecutive years, includes Octavius in Julius Ceasar, Bosola in The Dutchess of Malfi and Vasques in ʻTis Pity Sheʼs a Whore. He has also acted in many TV series, including Holby City, Casualty, The Bill and Foyleʼs War. RASHID- Chris Ryman Chris Rymanʼs acting career encompasses over film, television and theatre. He studied at Guildhal School of Music and Drama. His filmography includes Quantum of Solace directed by Marc Forster and 28 Weeks Later directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. He has also appeared in The Bill, Casualty, Doctors and Primeval, amongst many other TV series. Warp X/ Tigerlily (Chinoise) Limited, 2CO4 Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road E1 6LA Tel: +44 (0) 20 7729 9845 CREW BIOGRAPHIES Xiaolu Guo- Director Xiaolu Guo (1973, China) studied at the Beijing Film Academy and received her MA in 2000. In 1999, INTERNET GENERATION, and in 2002 studied directing at the UKʼs National Film and Television School. Xiaoluʼs film THE CONCRETE REVOLUTION (2004) was screened at more than 50 film festivals around the world, and her feature film HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY? (2006) premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and was been selected for both the Rotterdam VPRO Tiger award competition and the Sundance competitive fiction section in 2007.