Masters of Dox

China Heavyweight

Yung Chang
Screening time  
26.02. / Tuesday, 18:00 - 20:00 Theatre 5  
In central China, a Master coach recruits poor rural teenagers and turns them into boxing champions.

Through hard work and discipline, these boys and girls come of age, trained in the art of boxing and the game of life. They are filled with Olympic dreams, hoping to become China’s next amateur heroes. But the pull of professionalism also weighs upon their shoulders. The top student boxers face dramatic choices as they graduate – should they fight for the collective good as amateurs or for themselves and their own personal gain as professionals? It is a metaphor of the choices that everyone faces now, in the New China.

Yung_chang

Yung Chang

Yung Chang is internationally award-winning filmmaker who made his first feature documentary, Up The Yangtze, in 2007. The film played at numerous festivals, including Sundance, and was one of the top-grossing theatrically released documentaries of 2008. China Heavyweight is Chang’s second feature, which had its world premiere in Official Competition at Sundance 2012. He is currently in production on The Fruit Hunters, a feature documentary about nature, commerce and obsession in the fruit underworld.

General sponsor

China Heavyweight

Canada, China
2012, 93', video

Directed by:
Yung Chang

Screenplay by:
Yung Chang

Cinematography:
Sun Shaoguang

Edited by:
Hannele Halm, Xi Feng

Music:
Olivier Alary

Producers:
Yi Han, Bob Moore, Zhao Qi, Peter Wintonick

Produced by:
YuanFang Media, EyeSteelFilm, EyeSteelFilm

Festivals & Awards:

Milano Film Festival 2012 – Best Feature; Asian Film Festival Dallas 2012 – Best Documentary Feature; Copenhagen International Film Festival 2012 – Special Mention; Hot Docs 2012; LA Asian Pacific Film Festival 2012 – Best Cinematography; Sundance Film Festival 2012