The movie "Roof Football", which focuses on the story of football girls chasing their dreams in mountain villages in Yunnan, was released nationwide on April 20. The film is produced by Huang Jianxin, Wang Zhonglei is the chief producer, Ren Ning and Wang Manli are the producers, directed by Feiyu, starring Tang Liangfeng, Tan Xinyu and Shi Junxian, tells the inspirational story of a group of girls who love football in a mountain village in Yunnan, in order to realize their dreams, form a non-professional team, take the roof as the stadium and the grapefruit as the football, continue to experience, chase their dreams, and finally move towards a larger world.
"Roof Football" has previously emerged in various film festivals, not only as the closing film at the 7th Pingyao International Film Festival, shortlisted for the 10th Silk Road International Film Festival "Golden Silk Road Award", but also won the 34th China Golden Rooster Film Festival Venture Capital Conference "Jury Special Award" and other awards. Recently, director Feiyu was interviewed by "Variety" and talked about the behind-the-scenes production story of the film.
Yunnan style inspires creative inspiration
The story of the film takes place in a village deep in the mountains of Yunnan, where girls use grapefruit as balls, run on undulating rooftops, and pass each other. Despite the difficulties, they continued to focus on their training and enjoyed it. With a full love for football and a firm belief that "where there is a will, there is a way", Ayimei (played by Tang Liangfeng) led her sister Ayiduo (played by Tan Xinyu) and the girls in the village to form a football team. Under the guidance of coach Shi Kai (played by Shi Junxian), they train hard day after day, writing inspirational stories with tenacity and love.
flying fish
Flying Fish transitioned from screenwriter to director, and "Rooftop Football" was his first feature film. The inspiration for the creation of the film came from his experience in Yunnan. Feiyu recalled that he once met a pair of little sisters in a village in Bingzhongluo, a secret realm on the Nujiang River. They never left the mountains, and only went to the town on the other side of the river. "I wanted to write a story about the growth of children and show the deep emotional bond between them and their parents and relatives. Later, the little sisters became the prototype of the two sisters in the movie.
Yunnan has a strong football culture, and when flying fish, he often sees the scene of the elderly and children playing football together, which is one of the reasons why he chose the theme of football. When he was collecting wind in Baoshan Stone Town on the Nu River, he once climbed on the roof of the village, surrounded by mountains and surging rivers in front of him, and heard the sound of the wind, gurgling water, and the laughter of children in his ears. Suddenly he had a flash of inspiration, and the scene of a group of children playing football on the rooftop came to mind. Combined with these life experiences and perceptions, the concept of the film's pre-creation gradually took shape.
"Rooftop Soccer" took 3 years to create and was launched in December 2019. In the preparation stage of the film, Feiyu traveled almost all over the large and small villages in Yunnan and polished more than 20 drafts of scripts. "The core expression of the film is the child's sincere love for life. "Feiyu hopes to write the simplicity and persistent pursuit of dreams of local children in Yunnan into the story of the movie, so that the audience can feel the power of dreams and feel this story about growth.
Go deep into Yunnan villages to shoot the scene
The film was filmed in Luxi County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, where the landscape of ancient villages is very Yunnan-like. The crew transferred nearly 4,500 kilometers to shoot, and the amount of shooting material was an astonishing 75,600G. In the finished film, the girl runs and kicks a ball between the rooftops, which blends with the characteristics of the ancient village to form a vivid picture.
As a rookie director, Flying Fish challenged the theme of children's sports for the first time and boldly used amateur actors, which is difficult to imagine. In order to ensure that the young actors have enough sleep time, the crew finishes work before 10 o'clock every night and never stays up late to shoot. In addition, the whole film uses Yunnan dialect dialogue. Feiyu explained, "The dialect is closer to the character archetypes and regional characteristics. For amateur actors, speaking in dialects can show the character's emotions and personality more naturally. ”
In order to perfectly present the wonderful moments of the children playing football, the crew carried out detailed preliminary preparations, drew storyboards for each shot, and conducted a lot of rehearsals for tactical actions. Before filming the scene of playing football on the roof, the crew reinforced and repaired the roof to ensure the safety of filming. At the same time, Feiyu also communicated with the parkour team in depth, hoping to use professional experience to present the visual impact of running and playing at the same time. "The creator measured the distance between each roof to make sure that the distance at which the ball was kicked would look best in the frame. ”
After most of the filming work was completed, Flying Fish participated in the "Project in Production (WIP)" unit of the 2021 Golden Rooster Film Venture Capital Conference with "Roof Football", and the project was recognized by senior filmmaker Huang Jianxin. Huang Jianxin not only served as the producer of the film, but also provided guidance and advice throughout the whole process from editing, picture, color grading to sound production. With Huang Jianxin's help, "Roof Football" completed the key reshoots and post-production work. "Director Huang Jianxin was very helpful to the birth of this film. Feiyu sighed.
Amateur actor in his true colors
The original natural sense of the young actors in the film is integrated with the landscape scenery of the Yunnan countryside. In order to select qualified young actors, Feiyu and other main creators spent 5 months, visited 203 local schools in Yunnan, interviewed more than 10,000 students, and finally selected 20 children (aged 10-15) to participate in the filming. "Most of the young actors have some football skills, and I don't want to play 'match-fixing'. Feiyu introduced, "I will ask the actors to cooperate perfectly with the camera, and the lens is completed in one go." Of course, this kind of scene is really difficult to shoot, and often an action needs to be filmed dozens of times. To this end, the crew invited professional football coaches from Shanghai to the Yunnan filming preparation site for a two-month football training camp for the children. In addition, in order to reassure parents to support the filming, the crew also invited the cultural teachers of the High School Affiliated to Yunnan Normal University to go to Luxi County, where the filming was made, every week to tutor the children.
The performances of the two young leading actors Tang Liangfeng and Tan Xinyu were sincere and moving, and they were recognized by the director. Feiyu shared with reporters an interesting story about the selection of actors. "The first time I met Tang Liangfeng was at a local campus football match in Yunnan. After the game, a figure holding a football suddenly appeared in front of me, and she said: 'Director, I'll show you the ball!'" In Feiyu's view, Tang Liangfeng has the same tenacity as the character Ayimei, and later, he also wrote this plot into the script. When she first joined the crew, Tan Xinyu, who played her sister Ayido, had a relatively weak football foundation, but she was as stoic and resolute as a character - when other children were resting, she would practice alone in the corner of the court, tanned. After determining the leading role, Feiyu revised the script according to the actor's personality characteristics to make the role and the actor more compatible.
It is worth mentioning that participating in the film made Tan Xinyu get involved with football and opened the road to her football dream, and now, she has become a member of the Yunnan Youth Football Team and represented the team in the 3rd China Youth Football League in 2024. From beginners who can only juggle the ball three or four times, to athletes who represent their hometowns, the journey of chasing dreams on the screen seems to be over, and the story of football in reality has just begun......
Submissions should be sent to: