Zhong Yu’s winning film is the first to come out of Winsing’s Director Support Program that encourages new ways of telling Chinese stories; short recognized for its original approach to the telling of a uniquely Cantonese story.
Lion Dance, created by Winsing’s Iron Fan Studio and directed by Zhong Yu, was named Best Animated Short at 2020 Great Lakes International Film Festival. The film is the first to come out of Winsing’s Director Support Program. Zhong desired to use his expertise to develop and tell a story with Cantonese features and was able to achieve this with the studios’ support.
The short follows a forgotten and washed-out dancing star lion who will do anything to return to the public eye. The lion happens upon a lion dance performance at the Chinese New Year Temple Fair in Chinatown that achieves huge success, which reminds him of his glory days. He joins the lion dance team in excitement, learns from the Panda Master, and dreams of a return to fame. However, he soon realizes that lion dancing is unheeded and disliked except during traditional holidays.
The lion dance team must disband when Chinatown is torn down to make way for an international city development. The lonely lion returns to his mountain, but his passion for the traditional dance ignites a crazy solution to preserve the dance and choreography, thus he returns to the city.
Inspired by the film’s international recognition, Winsing is encouraging its talent to explore more and different types of stories. Lion Dance has received accolades from the following:
- Best Rising Star for Animation at 2020 Jersey Shore Film Festival (JSFF)
- Best Film (Animation) Winner at 7th Darbhangar International Film Festival
- Best Film (Animation) Winner at 2020 Great Lakes International Film Festival
- Nominated for 2019 San Diego International Kids' Film Festival
- Nominated for 2020 Vegas Cinefest International Film Festival
- Nominated for the 17th Central Michigan International Film Festival
- Nominated for the 13th Jersey Shore Film Festival (JSFF)
- Nominated for Puglia International Film Festival
- Nominated for Orlando International Film Festival
- Nominated for Bolton International Film Festival
- Nominated for the 5°Canal de Panama International Film Festival
- Nominated for 10th Pune Short Film Festival
“Traditional Chinese culture is the fundamental creativity of our civilization,” commented Zhong. “Winsing will always endeavor to tell the Chinese stories to the world and carry forward the traditional culture. It is believed that Winsing will deliver good traditional culture to more audiences globally with more new and advanced technologies, ideas and themes in the future.”
Source: Winsing
