A documentary film featuring star hurdler Liu Xiang and chronicling
Beijing's warm-up to the Olympics will open late next month, director Gu Yun
said over the weekend.
"Dream-building 2008" ("Zhu Meng 2008") will premiere at the Shanghai
International Film Festival, one of Asia's largest, which starts on June 14.
The 90-minute film is slated for theater release on June 24, less than two
months before the opening of the Beijing Olympics.
It took seven years to make the film, as the director tried to offer a
panorama of a nation on track for the biggest sporting event on the planet.
Liu Xiang's success story is featured in one of the film's five independent
stories. Other stories include the construction of the Bird's Nest, the main
venue for the Beijing Olympics; everyday life of a local family; the training of
three young gymnasts; and training of a security guard team.
"I'm very looking forward to my big-screen debut," Liu Xiang said in an
interview with director Gu Yun on May 24 shortly after he won a gold medal at an
Olympic test event in the Bird's Nest. "But I'm not acting there," he laughed,
"It's really who I am when I'm in training."
