Director: Wang XiaoShuai
Stars: Gao Yuanyuan, Yan Anlian, Tang Yang, Li Bin

After a decade of taking his films overseas, Wang Xiaoshuai's newest project has won the Jury Prize at Cannes. The release of Shanghai Dreams in local cinemas is another first for Wang, who joins other former underground directors like Zhang Jiake and Zhang Yuan in coming back into the official fold. Returning from Wang's last film, Beijing Bicycle, young stars Gao Yuanyuang and Li Bin take lead roles in the new film's darker tale.

Inspired by the director's own family, the story is set around the Cultural Revolution when the government encouraged urban families to leave the cities and settle in the poorer, rural areas to encourage industry and modernization.

Nineteen-year-old Qing Hong (Gao) gives the film it's heroine and Chinese title. Qing Hong is a wholesome, leveled headed kid who is not immune to the temptations of high heels, disco and boys. Her authoritarian, overprotective father appreciates none of this and pushes Qing Hong away. Though she and her brother have come to terms with life in Guizhou province, her father is steadfast in refusal to accept Guizhou as their home. China is changing and the only future he sees for his family is a return to Shanghai.

It is pleasing to say that the film retains the edge that Wang developed making independent films. There's no happy-ever-after ending, but real consequences for tough choices and mistakes made.

2005 Mandarin, 119 minutes