|
U.S. MOVIE RELEASE
Mao’s Last Dancer will be opening in select US cities on Friday, August 20th. For a comprehensive list of where the film will be playing, visit
www.maoslastdancer-movie.com, where you can also watch the trailer, see clips & photos from the film, check out links to reviews & interviews, peruse an interactive timeline and much more. There’s also a Facebook profile for the US release at
www.facebook.com/maoslastdancer. Become a follower and get up-to-the-minute news about advance screenings, when the film will be opening in your city, press appearances by the talent, contests, and all sorts of other surprises.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
The movie, Mao's Last Dancer, was first premiered at the prestigious Toronto
International Film Festival between September 10th and 14th of 2009 as a
Special Presentation film, it won the highly coveted People's Choice Award
amongst 312 international films entered there. It was then followed with four
gala premiers in Australia to benefit the Australian Ballet and the Bionic
Ear Institute, which are the two non-profit organizations that Li supports
and is involved with. The premiers were very successful and raised some
valuable funds for the Australian Ballet and the Bionic Ear Institute. The
film is now one of the top 10 box office hits in the Australian film history.
Beside the Toronto award, the film has won the following film awards:
SAN PAULO FILM FESTIVAL – Winner, Audience Award
PROVINCETOWN – Winner, Audience Award
MAINE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL – Winner, Audience Award
ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF DALLAS – Winner, Audience Award
SEATTLE FILM FESTIVAL – Runner Up for Best Film Golden Space Needle Award
Li went to New Zealand, Japan and the US for the film promotional tours.
He will be going to some other countries during the course of the year.
We would like to share with you that Li has watched the film a few times now,
and he thought that it’s a very good film. Li is very happy with how it
portrayed his life. Bruce Beresford has done wonders bringing his story to the
screen. The entire cast of actors and dancers are wonderful. And Li also liked
the music very much.
Another exciting development, Li has written three new chapters for the film
tie-in edition of the book. He is quite excited with this new edition as the
new materials will bring the readers up-to-date on the important people in his
life, and the story of how the film came about.
|
THE FILM
*** Click here to view the movie trailer! ***
SAN PAULO FILM FESTIVAL – Winner, Audience Award
PROVINCETOWN – Winner, Audience Award
MAINE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL – Winner, Audience Award
ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF DALLAS – Winner, Audience Award
TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL – Runner Up to PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE for the Audience Award
SEATTLE FILM FESTIVAL – Runner Up for Best Film Golden Space Needle Award
The film of Mao’s Last Dancer is complete. A great
creative team, wonderful cast of many talented dancers, great actors and
dedicated crew are involved in bringing Li’s story onto the silver
screen. The filming took the cast to China, Australia and America. The
film is scheduled for release in the second half of 2009.
Director - Bruce Beresford: Driving Miss Daisy, Breaker Morant, Black
Robe, The Contract and other films.
Producer - Jane Scott: Shine, Crocodile Dundee II, Head On and other
films.
Screenplay Writer - Jan Sardi: Shine, The Notebook, Love’s Brother and
other films.
THE ACTORS
Adult Li - Chi Cao: Born in China, Chi was trained at the Beijing Dance
Academy and the Royal Ballet School. He joined Birmingham Royal Ballet
in 1995 and was promoted to Principal in 2002. Chi is a virtuoso
classical dancer, and often leads the Company in the classical
repertory. His superb technique won him the gold medal in 1998 at the
International Ballet Competition in Varna. Chi has also represented the
BRB at a number of prestigious occasions, dancing at the NATO gala in
Birmingham (2000) and Birmingham's gala to celebrate Her Majesty The
Queen's golden jubilee (2002). And Chi is the son of two of Li’s former
teachers at the Beijing Dance Academy.
Middle Li - Chengwu Guo: One of the top graduates of the Beijing Dance
Academy. Chengwu won one of the top prizes in the prestigious junior
international ballet competition in Prix De Lausanne in 2006 and won the
Gold Medal in the Shanghai Ballet Competition in the same year. He is
now a member of the Australian Ballet.
Little Li - Huang Wen Bin: A gorgeous young boy from an athletics school
in China.
Li’s Mother - Joan Chen: The Last Emperor,
Twin Peaks, Home Song Stories, In the
Class of His Own and other films.
Li’s Father - Wang Shuang Bao: A well-known actor in China and in many
films.
Ben Stevenson - Bruce Greenwood: National Treasure, Déjà vu, World’s
Fastest Indian and other films.
Charles Foster - Kyle MacLachlan: Desperate
Housewives, Blue Velvet,
Twin Peaks, Dune, Sex In The City, Free, Opening Doors
and other films.
Elizabeth - Amanda Schull: Amanda was a member of the San Francisco
Ballet and the star of the hit movie Center Stage.
Mary - Camilla Vergotis: Camilla danced with the Australian Ballet
as a soloist and is
currently a soloist with the Hong Kong Ballet.
The US Federal Judge - Jack Thompson: Star Wars, The Good German, The
Manual and other films. Jack is playing the cameo role of the US federal
judge in Houston.
Music Composer - Christopher Gordon: Master and Commander, On the Beach,
Salem’s Lot, Ward 13, Much To Do About Something, Sanctuary and other
films.
Dance Choreographers - Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon: Graeme is a
prolific choreographer and former Artistic Director of the Sydney Dance
Company. With the collaboration of his long time partner Janet, they
have created many wonderful dance works, classical and contemporary. His
recent work for the Australian Ballet was Swan Lake, which won
international appraisals.
The Dancers - The Australian Ballet and Sydney Dance Company: A large
number of dancers from both the Australian Ballet and the Sydney Dance
Company have participated in the dance works in the
film.
|