WHEN A ROCKET SITS ON THE LAUNCH PAD by Bohao Liu
12min | China/USA| 2023
At the basketball camp, 15-year-old Fang talks about her dreams. But life never stops, it moves too fast. Her phone fell into water. There are too many stairs to climb. The adults seem to decide her future. And the rocket keeps being launched every month.
Original Title Huo jian fa she shi Year of production 2023 Length 12' Country China/USA Shooting FormatDigital Aspect Ratio1.33:1 Dialogue Mandarin, Sichuan Yi Director Bohao Liu Producers Bohao Liu, Gene Gallerano Production Toyork Films Writer Bohao Liu Cinematographer Bohao Liu Editor Bohao Liu Music Caleb Freundlich Sound Designer Bohao Liu Poster Design Yanqi Liang Website Toyork Films
Director's Statement The first idea of returning to Liangshan was to make a revisit to the subjects and places in my previous documentary. I wanted to shoot something, but I had no story idea at all. I only knew that the launch pad was nearby in Xichang, Liangshan. I really wanted to watch the rocket launching in person. The main character, Xiaofang, is the best female player of the Liangshan Black Eagles team. When we all had dinner together one night, she was wearing a Houston Rockets jersey and looked sullen. I asked her what happened. It turned out that her phone had dropped into the water when swimming in her secret pond. I started asking her what to do, took out my pen and wrote the script on the back of the menu. I started filming right after the dinner to document the happening and deliberately reconstruct the happened. Her authentic emotion and action were intimately captured in this melancholy piece, also speaking to larger social issues about arranged marriage and rural education. While the rocket launched the same night, she waited for her own miracle to launch in the dreams of youth.
