Cast member Gao Yuanyuan (Photo source: sina)

Photo source: sina

Photo source: sina

Photo source: sina

    BEIJING, June 7 -- Prize-winning film ¡°Shanghai Dreams¡± has been screened in Shenzhen's major cinemas since Friday. The movie's director, Wang Xiaoshuai, attended a press conference in Shenzhen on Sunday.

    It was the first time for Wang, one of the ¡°sixth-generation¡± directors on the Chinese mainland, to have permission from State authorities to screen one of his movies in China.

    ¡°I have waited for this moment for 12 years,¡± said Wang, whose previous movies, such as ¡°Beijing Bicycle¡± in 2000, had been banned from domestic cinemas.

    In many ways, Wang's ¡°Shanghai Dreams¡± is a conventional family drama exploring the gap between traditional parents and their independence-seeking children. The movie is remarkable simply because of the cultural and political background of its setting: rural China in the early 1980s.

    The traditional parents, Wu Zemin and his wife, Meifen, are among many Chinese who move from the country's big cities, like Shanghai, to the poor west of China to develop the local industry in the 1960s, as encouraged by the government.

    Persuaded by his wife, Wu leaves Shanghai reluctantly. He has not benefited much from their 10 years in Guiyang in southwestern Guizhou Province. He is desperately anxious to return to Shanghai for his children's future and to amend the mistakes of his youth.

    The conflict festers over many years, causing great arguments and leading Wu to prevent his daughter, Qinghong, from marrying any of the local rural workers. However, Qinghong falls in love with one of the local boys, a factory worker named Fang Honggen.

    The film ends as a tragedy. The daughter suffers from her love and leaves with a broken heart. When the family return to Shanghai, Qinghong begins to mourn her youth as her parents did 20 years ago.

    With ¡°Shanghai Dreams,¡± the director explores his past and pays homage to a generation of Chinese with the same background.

    Born in Shanghai in 1966, Wang moved with his family to Guiyang when he was a baby. His family finally left the countryside and he was able to make his way to becoming a film director.

    ¡°This movie is a record of memories of the community I once lived in,¡± said Wang. ¡°It is for my parents and many others who shared a similar destiny.¡±

    During the weekend, the film rose to second place at the box office in the city's New South Movie City, behind only ¡°Star Wars: Episode III ¡ª Revenge of the Sith.¡±

    Many audience members attending Sunday¡¯s crowded showing were couples in their 30s; many among them had similar experiences to those shown in the film.

    A man surnamed Zhang described the film was slow-paced but fascinating. ¡°The movie's background is similar to ¡®Peacock,¡¯ a recent Silver Bear winner at Berlinale. However, it is better narrated and easier to understand.¡±

    A woman surnamed Dai, in her 20s, complained the two-hour-long movie was boring and asserted that it was not appropriate for younger viewers who did not know much about the 1970s.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)