LIGHTS ON
  • Home
  • Short Films
  • Feature Films
  • The Directors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • HALO
  • Home
  • Short Films
  • Feature Films
  • The Directors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • HALO
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

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 Format Digital
Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
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

Festival selections
Berlinale Generation 2023, Germany - World Premiere
​

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.
Foto
Foto
Foto
Foto
Foto
Foto
Foto

Foto

team@lightsonfilm.org