Look Again. Jan 19 – 29, 2012 Park City, Utah

In southwestern China, state athletic coaches scour the countryside to recruit poor, rural teenagers who demonstrate a natural ability to throw a good punch. Moved into boxing training centers, these boys and girls undergo a rigorous regimen that grooms them to be China’s next Olympic heroes but also prepares them for life outside the ring. As these young boxers develop, the allure of turning professional for personal gain and glory competes with the main philosophy behind their training—to represent their country. Interconnected with their story is that of their charismatic coach, Qi Moxiang, who—now in his late thirties and determined to win back lost honor—trains for a significant fight.

China Heavyweight artfully captures the playfulness among the trainees, their grueling conditioning, and the guiding principle that athletic achievement is for their country, rather than themselves. Director Yung Chang returns to the Sundance Film Festival (Up the Yangtze screened in 2008) with an intimately observed film that both explores and reflects social change and development in modern China.
- K.Y.

David Magdael
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David Magdael & Associates
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China Heavyweight
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International award‐winning filmmaker Yung Chang made his first feature documentary, Up the Yangtze, in 2007. It played at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was one of the top-grossing documentary releases that year. China Heavyweight is Chang's sophomore film. He is currently in production on The Fruit Hunters, a feature documentary about nature, commerce, and obsession in the fruit underworld, slated for a fall 2012 release. He is also currently writing "Eggplant," his first feature film, about a Chinese wedding photographer.