In a hall of Peking University, more than 2,000 students became the first batch of Chinese to have a sneak preview of Me and My Motherland, an anthology feature co-directed by seven renowned auteurs.
With Chen Kaige as the chief director and Huang Jianxin as head of producers, the movie consists of seven short tales, respectively directed by Chen, Ning Hao, Xu Zheng, Guan Hu, Xue Xiaolu, Zhang Yibai and Wen Muye, all credited for award-winning classics or box office hits.
The feature screened at Peking University is titled Hello, Beijing, about a taxi driver who gets a ticket of the opening ceremony of 2008 Beijing Olympics. Though he planned to give it as a birthday gift to his son, who had been estranged from him for a long time, the good-hearted man gives the ticket to another child.
Ge You, one of the best actors in his era, plays the driver, in his first work with director Ning, known for noir comedies.
The story set in August 2008 features a touch of nostalgia. Ge uses his sense of humor to vividly interpret a streetwise Beijing native.
Director Xu's story looks back at the moment when China women's volleyball national team defeated the United States to win the Los Angeles Olympic Games gold in 1984. The tale is told through the perspective of a group of ordinary Shanghai residents, who gathered in an alley to watch the live broadcast on a TV set.
The triumph marked the first Olympic gold for China women's volleyball team and their feats, after that, winning the World Cup in 1981 and the World Volleyball Championships in 1982.
A few days after the Peking University event, the seven directors and some of their cast members appeared in seven cities simultaneously on Sept 13 to promote the movie, a tribute to the 70th anniversary of New China.
