Films & Events
The Red Race
This observational documentary offers a controversial look into the lives of a group of young Chinese children enrolled in an intensive gymnastics training program. The adults in their lives, whether the parents, foster parents, coach, or the art teacher, all continuously reinforce one ultimate goal: winning a gold medal at the Olympics. The children represent the working-class parents’ aspirations for better lives, a chance for the coaches to prove their worth, and a country’s hope for remaining in the top ranks at the big game. Their path is not an easy one. The pressure on these young boys and girls to grow up to be winning athletes is great as the competitive sport is lauded over learning to read and write for the kindergarten-aged students. Will their rigorous training from a young age make them better athletes? This detailed insight captures the contradictions of modern China and the cost paid for the country’s dreams.
The June 8 screening is a Talking Picture screening. Join our Talking Pictures speakers—experts, advocates and critics—in an engaging, provocative, and entertaining post-screening forum for opinions, ideas, and understanding through lively debate.
Sponsor:
The Seattle Times
Cast & Crew
Director: Gan Chao
Producer: Barbara Biemann, Qiming Ying
Editor: Bas Roeterink
Cinematographer: Gong Wei, Qian Zhu
Awards: Silverdocs 2008 (Special Jury Prize)
Hamptons International Film Festival 2008 (Special Jury Prize)
Music: Battleship Grey: Oscar Klingspor, Pontus Brock, Oskar Andersson
Filmography: Nobody’s Child (2007); Last House Standing (2005); Come and Dance Burka (2004); More or One (2003); Time Difference (2002)
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user reviews
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a moving& powerful documentary, devastating honesty, Jun 07, 2009
By Chris Anderson
“Without narration or judgment, this documentary, riveting from its first frame, depicted the rigorous training of China's potential gymnastic stars,
age 6.
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Don't go in expecting commentaries, Jun 12, 2009
By Zheng Wang
“With no narration and virtually no interviews, this is a rare breed of a documentary. Such an "objective" and "slice of life" approach is consistent with the trend I see in a lot of Chinese narrative films, and it may not be something that most Western audience are used to. If you are OK with that,”
… full review
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