Canadian-Chinese director Yung Chang hopes his
documentary will explore aspects of contemporary life through boxing.
Boxing was banned as "too
Western and brutal" after the revolution in 1949, but Canadian-Chinese
director Yung Chang hope
Canadian-Chinese director Yung Chang hopes his
documentary will explore aspects of contemporary life through boxing.
Boxing was banned as "too
Western and brutal" after the revolution in 1949, but Canadian-Chinese
director Yung Chang hopes his documentary China Heavyweight will
explore aspects of contemporary life through the medium of the ring.
The movie is due to screen at more
than 200 theaters nationwide on Dec. 20, making it the most widely-screened
documentary in Chinese history.
A Canada-China co-production from
Montreal's Eyesteel Films and Beijing’s Yuanfang Media, China Heavyweight was tailored for release in both markets.
Since the ban on boxing was lifted
in 1986 it has become more popular, and Chang's documentary focuses on a coach
and his teenage boxers in Huili, Sichuan province.
"Boxing is considered a very
Western sport and a very individual sport. It's about two people in the ring
fighting for themselves," Chang told local media. "I thought that
would be very interesting to put in a Chinese context, where the younger
generation is experiencing a kind of conflict with individualism and
tradition."
Chinese boxing has made headway in
recent years, Champs such as Zou
Shiming won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a feat he repeated in
London four years later, while Xiong
Chaozhong became China's first pro boxing champion by winning the WBC
Minimumweight belt in 2012.
He sees boxing as a metaphor about
the young generation and about what is means to be an individual.
The wide release on 200 screens,
including in Lumieres and Wanda cinema chains, follows pre-release screenings
in Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Jinan, Hangzhou,
Nanjing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou, through Rear Window
Distribution.
The documentary debuted at Sundance
in January 2012 and earned the Taiwan Golden Horse award for best documentary
in 2013. Zeitgeist released China Heavyweight in the U.S. market.
The documentary about China's boxing
world was produced by the late Peter
Wintonick, an innovator in documentaries involving Canadian and Chinese
partners.
Other Eyesteel Films documentaries
include Chang's Up The Yangtze
and Last Train Home by Fan Lixin.
During the shooting of the movie,
Chang ran into former champ Mike Tyson
in China and showed him footage from the film.
"Because usually, people in
boxing are impoverished people from a lower class, Tyson is the same, so he can
relate to the characters of the movie," said Chang.
The movie is due to screen at more
than 200 theaters nationwide on Dec. 20, making it the most widely-screened
documentary in Chinese history.
A Canada-China co-production from
Montreal's Eyesteel Films and Beijing’s Yuanfang Media, China Heavyweight was tailored for release in both markets.
Since the ban on boxing was lifted
in 1986 it has become more popular, and Chang's documentary focuses on a coach
and his teenage boxers in Huili, Sichuan province.
"Boxing is considered a very
Western sport and a very individual sport. It's about two people in the ring
fighting for themselves," Chang told local media. "I thought that
would be very interesting to put in a Chinese context, where the younger
generation is experiencing a kind of conflict with individualism and
tradition."
Chinese boxing has made headway in
recent years, Champs such as Zou
Shiming won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a feat he repeated in
London four years later, while Xiong
Chaozhong became China's first pro boxing champion by winning the WBC
Minimumweight belt in 2012.
He sees boxing as a metaphor about
the young generation and about what is means to be an individual.
The wide release on 200 screens,
including in Lumieres and Wanda cinema chains, follows pre-release screenings
in Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Jinan, Hangzhou,
Nanjing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou, through Rear Window
Distribution.
The documentary debuted at Sundance
in January 2012 and earned the Taiwan Golden Horse award for best documentary
in 2013. Zeitgeist released China Heavyweight in the U.S. market.
The documentary about China's boxing
world was produced by the late Peter
Wintonick, an innovator in documentaries involving Canadian and Chinese
partners.
Other Eyesteel Films documentaries
include Chang's Up The Yangtze
and Last Train Home by Fan Lixin.
During the shooting of the movie,
Chang ran into former champ Mike Tyson
in China and showed him footage from the film.
"Because usually, people in
boxing are impoverished people from a lower class, Tyson is the same, so he can
relate to the characters of the movie," said Chang.
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