BITTER SWEET BALLAD

This is a story about youth with music. It all happens at the Dandelion School, Beijing’s first middle school specifically established for the children of migrant workers. Every year when new pupils arrive, Ms. Yuan Xiaoyan, who has worked in the school choir for eight years, would choose a group of music-loving first-years with solid musical foundations to join the choir. A new group of children join the choir while those who have advanced to the second year have to discuss with their families their future choices. For choir members, their music career in middle school will eventually stop due to the pressure of high school entrance examinations and the inevitable parting. But along this journey accompanied by music, they have been savoring the joys and sorrows of their youth, burying them deep in their hearts, and transforming them into growth-promoting nutrients.

JUNJIAN LIANG

 

Documentary director and producer. "Beijing 2008" (2009) was nominated and screened in IDFA 2010. Documentary "Ladder to Paradise" (2015), was released in 2015 all over China. This film won the most popular documentary award of 2015 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, China, and was nominated at the 31st China Film Festival Golden Rooster Award for best documentary.

 

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