THE ROAD / FANGXIANG ZHI LU

Origin Country: China
Runtime: 114 MIN
Presentation Format: 35 MM

DIR Zhang Jiarui SCR Zhang Jiarui, Yuan Daju PROD Ling Li DP Lin Liangzhong ED Zhou Ying PROD DES Han Chunlin MUS Umebayashi Shigairu CAST Zhang Jingchu, Fan Wei, Nie Yuan

Short Note:
Young mainland actress Zhang Jingchu (PEACOCK, SEVEN SWORDS) looks set to become the next Zhang Ziyi with her amazing performance in THE ROAD, an epic tale of a provincial bus driver and his assistant spread across 40 years of recent Chinese history.

Long Note:
THE ROAD is a sweeping drama that covers five decades in the life of Li Chunfen (Zhang Jingchu), a young ticket girl in rural Communist China, whose destiny turns on the dictates of her government and the route of the Xiangyang bus.

As a young woman, Chunfen is loyal but naïve. She never once doubts that the driver ofthe bus, her boss, Master Cui (Fan Wei) and the party leadership have her best interests in mind. It is not until she falls deeply in love, that she is exposed to the consequences and sacrifices of life in Communist China. Even then, Chunfen's loyalty to her country is unfaltering.

Zhang Jingchu convincingly handles the transition from naïveté to maturity, delivering astandout portrayal of a woman whose strength of spirit is as unfaltering as her loyalty, and who despite her history, builds a new life for herself in 21st century China.
-Jacqueline Lyanga

Biography:
Zhang Jiarui was born in Chengdu, China in 1958. He has directed three films including HUA YAO XIN NIANG, RUOMA DE SHI GI SUI and he wrote and directed THE ROAD.