The Crossing Guo Chun Tian Drama 99 minutes /A China A Wanda Media Co. Ltd /:: Top Five work A: Peipei is a sixteen-year-old girl whose life straddles both sides of the Hong Kong-Mainland China border. She lives in Shenzhen with her mother and goes to school in Hong Kong every day. Having grown up in a hot climate, she and her best friend dream of going to Japan to see real snow. She tries to do some part-time work to earn some money for the trip. She is introduced to a gang of smugglers and ends up smuggling iPhones to Shenzhen. The work pays well and she becomes more ambitious, ending up working as an iPhone mule for the gang. At the same time, her family life and friendships begin to fall apart. Her new job leads her ever deeper into a situation that could easily spin out of control. About The Characters Peipei Starred by Huang Yao Sixteen-year-old Peipei was born in Hong Kong but lives in Shenzhen with her mother. Her father is native to Hong Kong and has his own family in Hong Kong, making Peipei a typical Danfeizai (a child born to one parent from Hong Kong and one from the Mainland). She struggles with her identity and is quiet on the surface, but deep down she yearns for love, which is why she grabs every opportunity to find love. She follows her friend Jo in everything she does, and the two of them regularly skip school. They also plan to travel to Japan together and, in order to earn enough money to cover their travelling expenses, she takes the huge risk of smuggling products across the Hong Kong border. But when Hao, Jo’s boyfriend, comes into her life, her world starts to change. Her friendship with Jo is challenged by her ambiguous affections for Hao. Though she tries her best to salvage both relationships, in the end she realizes that losing some of the things you cherish in life is often one of the brutal truths of being young. Hao Starred by Sunny Sun Twenty-year-old Hao dropped out of school at a young age and has no stable job. He is skinny and has a shark tattoo on his belly. His family runs a food stall, and ever since he was a small boy he has hung out with the tough local street youths. He believes he can only rely on himself. He loves money and thinks that money can buy him everything. Before the plain-looking Peipei comes into his life, no girl has ever managed to get close to the real him. For a short moment, he sees Peipei as a potential soulmate and even thinks they might have a future together. Jo Starred by Carmen Soup Sixteen years old and native to Hong Kong. She is one of Peipei’s closest friends. She is pretty and outgoing, but also capricious, vain and has a sense of superiority. Her life is like a beautiful, pink bubble until Peipei bursts it and awakens her from her illusion. From then on, Jo knows that she has nothing at all. Lan Starred by Ni Hongjie Peipei’s mother. She is good-looking and has a straightforward personality. At the end of the nineties she came to Shenzhen to make her fortune. She met Yong and soon after she gave birth to Peipei. She dreamt of becoming a wealthy Hong Kong wife, but things did not go quite how she had planned. She brought Peipei up alone and did what she could to give her daughter a good life. Peipei sees her mother as reckless and childish. It is only on the day Lan stands up for Peipei at the police station and shows how she would do anything to protect her daughter. Peipei finally understands that mother and daughter should help each other out and that their relationship is the most important thing in life. Sister Hua Starred by Kong May Yee Elena A charismatic, experienced woman who has seen it all. Everyone follows her lead. She values Peipei for her shrewdness and courage, qualities that remind her of her younger self. But the people she hires are nothing more than useful tools to her. When she finds out that Peipei and Hao are secretly stealing her business, she decides to teach them a lesson. Yong Starred by Liu Kai Chi Peipei’s father. He led a prosperous life at the end of the nineties as a delivery truck driver transporting goods between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. After meeting Lan, whom he took on as a mistress, he built a new “home” in Shenzhen without telling his wife back in Hong Kong. As time went by, Yong couldn’t afford the economic pressure of raising two families, so he gave up his life with Peipei and her mother, scuttling back to Hong Kong to live out the rest of his life. Shui Starred by Jiao Gang This 50-year-old man lives an unstable life. By virtue of his relationship with Sister Hua, he became leader of the smuggling trade on the Shenzhen side of the border. Shui does everything possible to earn as much money as he can and with his newfound wealth he is able to move his wife and child from the countryside to a town nearby. Peipei reminds him of his daughter and he develops a fondness for her. He asks her why she wants to make money and how she’s doing at school. But he is well aware that his own livelihood hangs by a thread and he does not have the courage to warn Peipei before she is arrested. / 1Why did the director choose the topic between Hong Kong and Mainland China? Growing up in Shenzhen, the director was able to develop an unique perspective towards Hong Kong by dozens of her visits there. 2Is there a reference of the main character Peipei? In the morning from Monday to Friday, each week, over 30,000 children whose either or both parents are not Hong Kong residents, commuting between Shenzhen and Hong Kong to go to school in Hong Kong. They are the reference of the main character Peipei. 3What does “shuike” mean? Shuike, a person employed by smuggling group, travels frequently between Shenzhen and Hong Kong to earn some “service fees”. MAIN CREW / Bai Xue In 2007, the director graduated from the Beijing Film Academy with a B.A. in Directing. In 2012, she was admitted to the MFA of the Beijing Film Academy. In 2017, she participated in the 2nd CFDG China Youth Film Director Support Program (Young Shoots Program) sponsored by the China Film Directors Association and won the top five. In 2015, I made my decision to write a story about the cross- boundary children, those who have to commute between Shenzhen and Hong Kong every single day. In order to better understand their daily life, I made countless commuting trips between these two cities, wrote a thirty-thousand-word interview note, and also took hundreds of pictures and videos as part of my filmmaking approach. Because I firmly believe the nature of reality of the story is the sturdy foundation for its success. My film is actually talking about people with embarrassment. Peipei is one of them. They have family but no friend in Shenzhen and they study but have no home in Hong Kong. In fact, this kind of embarrassment has a certain degree of universality. Every immigrant from every city will face such problems. Although this is a youth film, it is not only about youth and growth. Peipei is the representative of such a special group of identity. Taking her as an entry point, she cuts deep in this era. She is the epitome of this era. // Tian Zhuangzhuang Director Filmography: On the Hunting Ground (1984), The Horse Thief (1986), Li Lian Ying,The Imperial Eunch (1991), The Blue Kite (1993), Springtime in a Small Town (2002), The Warrior And The Wolf (2009) / It is said that a filmmaker, or anyone working in the field of artistic creation, needs to have a few essential qualities: a unique perception of life and experience, talent and the right environment. The combination of these elements can create unique opportunities and the person that possesses them can become a good artist. Without one of those elements, he/she may simply wither away. The Crossing, directed by Bai Xue, shows that she has these elements. Life itself is something the director has experienced for herself over time, and the story of the main characters in the film woven by Bai Xue is the result of the director’s exhaustive interviews and research. She has a great instinct for film. She has not made films for ten years, but in that silent decade, she has gained a greater sense of her inner and outer worlds. These characteristics combined have all contributed to the birth of The Crossing and have made her into a true film director. /:A Piao Songri Majoring in Photography, he graduated from Beijing Film Academy with a bachelor degree. He had ten years of working experience in advertising photography. His works included Rider on Ghost Street, Detective Gui (2015), The Murder Game. / Cheung Siu Hong CHEUNG earned his MA in Fine Arts from Central St. Martins College of Art & Design, UAL. He has worked with acclaimed directors including Wong Kar Wai and Johnnie To as production designer and costume designer. Cheung's past work includes UNBEATABLE, THREE and MAD WORLD.