Xiao Yun, a sixteen-year-old girl living in small riverside town in China, discovers she is pregnant. The local community is stunned, her family loses “face” and she and her boyfriend are expelled from school. Ten years later, ostracized by the town and reduced to working as a singer in a local song and dance troupe, her only real companion is Xiao Yong, a fiercely affectionate, mysterious boy who protects her from the critical eyes of the community, and forces her to confront the depth of her unresolved past.
Li Yu was born in 1973 in Shangdong Province in Northern China. She earned a degree in Chinese literature and became one of the top TV hosts in China. After moving to Beijing she began working on documentaries, joining CCTV's (China Central Television) feature program “Life Space.” Her documentaries include Sisters (1999). Her first feature film, Fish and Elephant (2001) was internationally-acclaimed. Dam Street is her second feature film.
Dam Street (Hong Yan)
Directed by Li Yu
CAST Yun Liu Yi Wang Feng Liu Rui Xiao-yong Huang Xingrao Teacher Su Li Kechun Wang Zhengyue Wang Yizhu
CREDITS Director Li Yu Writers Li Yu, Fang Li Executive Producer Fang Li Producer Fang Li Cinematographer Wang Wei Editor Karl Riedl Sound Wang Xueyi Music Liu Sijun
Check your local library or video store to rent Dam Street,
or buy it here!
Did you know...
• Ketchup and sauerkraut were invented in China.
• When Coca-Cola was first distributed in China, it's name was mispronounced “Kekoukela”, which means “Bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”
• China is one of the only countries in the world where fossils of Homo Gigantus a.k.a. “Bigfoot” have been found.
• 25% of the world's population lives in China; 60% of bicycles in the world are manufactured in China; and approximately 80% percent of China's population use bicycles as their principal mode of transportation.
• The fortune cookie is an American invention (created in Los Angeles, California, in the early-1920's), and although it is a variation of the Chinese mooncake, it is not popular in China.
• Paper was in invented in China in 105 A.D., but was kept a secret for almost 700 years.
• Contrary to popular belief, the Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space, but it is true that some bricks in the Great Wall are made with rice flour.
• In China, when a child loses a bottom tooth, it is tossed up to the rooftops, so that the new tooth will grow upwards.
“I ALWAYS maintain that this is a film full of hope. I say this because it tells a story about searching for a way out. Metaphorically speaking, Xiao-Yun is like a thirsty person suddenly finding a cup of water. I use a method quite close to traditional narrative to relate a contemporary story about a woman subject to the overwhelming pressure of an unchanging tradition.”
