Beyond the Clouds
Directed byZheng Dasheng
Yang Jin
Screenplay byYuan Yuan
Chen Qiling
Produced byWu Yanyan
Zhang Yang
Ren Xiaoyi
StarringHai Qing
Chen Yongsheng
Chai Ye
Wang Yueting
Wan Guopeng
Distributed byEmei Film Group
Release date
  • November 24, 2023 (2023-11-24)
Running time
131 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin
Box officeUS$7.16 million (CN¥54.104 million)[1]

Beyond the Clouds (Chinese: 我本是高山; pinyin: Wǒ běn shì gāo shān) is a 2023 Chinese biographical film directed by Zheng Dasheng and Yang Jin, and starring Hai Qing, Chen Yongsheng, Chai Ye, Wang Yueting and Wan Guopeng. The film is about the life of Zhang Guimei, the founder and principal of Huaping High School for Girls, China's first and only free public high school for girls, and known for her efforts for improving female education in the rural regions of China.

Plot

Zhang Guimei (Hai Qing) establishes Huaping Girls' Senior High School in Yunnan, believing in the spirit of dedication to others. With this spirit, she provides over a hundred girls living in the mountainous areas, with the opportunity to change their destinies through education. Together, they overcome obstacles on the path forward, enriching their life choices.

Cast

  • Hai Qing as Zhang Guimei, founder of the Huaping Girls' Senior High School in Lijiang, Yunnan
  • Chen Yongsheng as Lu Nanshan
  • Chai Ye as Xu Yingying
  • Wang Yueting as Long Zhaohong
  • Wan Guopeng as Feng Baozhi
  • Yang Haoyu as Director Liang
  • Cya Liu as Fu Chunying
  • Hu Ge as Dong Yuhan, Zhang's husband

Production

The film began shooting in October 2022. According to public reports, during the scriptwriting phase, the production team gathered a large amount of material about Zhang for research and analysis. The lead actress, Hai Qing, spent two years practicing to imitate Zhang in the filming of the movie. Additionally, the extras who played the role of students were selected from thousands of children by the production team.[2][3][4]

Release

After completing production, the film quickly obtained a public screening license and started pre-sale on 8 November 2023. On November 16, the film held its premiere in Beijing. From November 17 to 19, the film conducted advance screenings. On November 18 and 19, members of the production team went to Kunming and Lijiang to hold premiere events. The premiere in Kunming invited female high school graduates from Huaping school, media staff and teachers to watch the film. In the screening event in Huaping County, Zhang Guimei led some female high school students from Huaping to watch the film. On November 24, the film was officially released in mainland China and on that day, Wang Ning, Secretary of Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and other provincial party and government leaders watched the movie as part of "accepting party spirit education".[4][3][2][5][6]

By November 22, the total box office collection and pre-sales for tickets of the movie of exceeded 20 million yuan. Following the film's official release on November 24, the film grossed over 38 million yuan ($5.4 million).[7][8]

Controversy

Prior to the overall release of the film, parts of the storyline of the film led to public controversy in China. This include allegedly turning an alcoholic father in real life into an alcoholic mother and that Zhang's motivation for establishing the high school was mainly influenced by her late husband. This led to criticisms regarding how women are portrayed in the movie. In a now-deleted post in the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, film's screenwriter Yuan Yuan wrote in response to the controversy that the change of the alcoholic father into mother in the movie was "meant to showcase women helping women." The China Central Television issued a statement where it accused certain influencers of stoking “gender opposition” for attention and condemned the screenwriters’ “emotional” responses. As a result, Sina Weibo deleted over 1,782 posts regarding the film's controversy, banned 67 accounts that amplified debates regarding the film and deleted 327 posts that called for the boycott of the film.[9][10][11][12]

References

  1. ↑ "猫眼专业版-实时票房 猫眼专业版-实时票房". Maoyan. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  2. 1 2 "《我本是高山》引发争议，观众不接受一个人性的张桂梅？". Huxiu. 2023-11-21. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  3. 1 2 "《我本是高山》曝新剧照 海清造型高度还原引热议". Sohu. 2023-10-14. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  4. 1 2 "电影《我本是高山》云南首映礼在昆明举行". Xinhua. 2023-11-19. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  5. ↑ "《我本是高山》在云南华坪点映". Xinhua. 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  6. ↑ "会议间隙，省委书记等观看这部电影". Sina. 2023-11-24. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  7. ↑ "7x24小时全球实时财经新闻直播". Sina Finance. 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  8. ↑ Frath, Patrick (2023-11-26). "China Box Office: Annual Total Passes $7 Billion as 'Across the Furious Sea' Sails Off With Weekend Win, Disney's 'Wish' Opens Fifth". Variety. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  9. ↑ Ye, Zhanhang (2023-11-20). "Girls' Education Biopic Courts Controversy Over Depiction of Women". The Sixth Tone. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  10. ↑ Zhang, Pheobe (2023-11-26). "All of China loves Zhang Guimei as a girls' education pioneer. So why is her biopic making some people see red?". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  11. ↑ "电影《我本是高山》引发争议！刚刚，微博通报：个别用户煽动性别对立、放大群体矛盾..." nbd.com.cn. 2023-11-26. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  12. ↑ Zhu, Ying (2023-11-21). "Biopic of girls' education pioneer sparks online debate". Shanghai Daily. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
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