YOUTH – A FENG XIAOGANG FILM
In selected UK/IRE cinemas from 15 December
London Haymarket, Birmingham Broadway Plaza, Odeon Cardiff, Odeon Edinburgh Lothian Road, Odeon Glasgow Quay, Odeon Liverpool One, Odeon Sheffield, Odeon Manchester Great Northern, Odeon Southampton, Cineworld Dublin
Please check the screening date and time at the cinema websites
| Duration | 136 mins |
| Classification | 15 (Suitable only for age 15 and over) |
| Premiere | Toronto International Film Festival, Special Presentations |
| Awards | Golden Horse Awards Nominations 2017 (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best New Performer, Best Art Direction, Best Makeup and Costume Design) |
| Director | Feng Xiaogang |
| Screenwriter | Yan Geling |
| Cinematographer | Luo Pan |
| Cast | Huang Xuan (Feng Liu), Miao Miao (Xiaoping He), Zhong Chuxi (Suizi), Yang Caiyu (Dingding Lin), Li Xiaofeng (Shuwen Hao), Wang Tianchen (Chan Chen) |
| Production Companies | Zhejiang Dongyang Mayla Media Co. Ltd, Huayi Brothers Pictures Limited, IQiyi Motion Pictures (Beijing) Co. Ltd, Beijing Sparkle Roll Media Corporation, Beijing Jingxi Culture&Tourism Co. Ltd, August First Film Studio |
| UK Distributor | Trinity Cine Asia |
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Overview
World premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, Youth is one of the most anticipated films of the year from the highest-grossing Chinese director Feng Xiaogang (Big Shot’s Funeral, The Banquet, I Am Not Madame Bovary). Adapted from a semi-autobiographical novel by renowned novelist Yan Geling (The Flowers of War, Coming Home), Youth recounts the coming-of-age journey of a team of young girls from the People Liberation Army dance troupe, from the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s to the 1990s. Youth is an ambitious epic that is also intimate and heartfelt in its personal tales.
Synopsis
Xiaoping (Miao Miao) is a talented dancer from a blemished family. A shining prince, Liu Feng (Xuan Huang), brings her to be part of the PLA’s (People’s Liberation Army) dance troupe – soldiers charged with promoting revolutionary values through music and dance. Xiaoping’s dreams of restoring her family name are dashed when the young dancers around her use her as their scapegoat. In a handful of years, each of the young women will be flung around the country when the death of Chairman Mao (1976) sends the region into chaos.
“Life has never appeared as pure, beatific and cruel”
Variety
“A sweeping marvel”
TIFF
“One of China’s most popular directors”
NY Times
Feng Xiaogang
Feng Xiaogang is one of the most well-known directors in China. Internationally, he is sometimes referred to as the Chinese Steven Spielberg for the many highest-grossing entertainment films in his filmography. Feng has directed 19 films to date, mastering a wide range of stories, from popular comedy (The Dream Factory) to large-scale spectacle (A World Without Thieves), from heart-wrenching melodrama (Aftershock) and to the brutality of civil war (Assembly).
His last film I Am Not Madame Bovary (2016) received rave reviews with its depiction of a peasant woman who seeks for justice that mocked society and Chinese officialdom at every turn. In Youth, Feng presents a coming-of-age love story that, in his own words, “amplifies the favourable impressions of his days at the Cultural Troops”.