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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.

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