| At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he falls in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet. | |
| Release Date: | Oct 01, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Director: | Bruce Beresford |
| Writer: | Jan Sardi, Cunxin Li |
| Genres: | Drama, Romance |
| Keywords | dancer, dance, ballet dancer, village, rags to riches, promise, based on true story, ballet, communism |
| Production Companies | Great Scott Productions Pty. Ltd. |
| Box Office |
Revenue: $23,914,731
Budget: $25,000,000 |
| Updates |
Updated: Feb 05, 2026 Entered: Apr 13, 2024 |
| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| Amanda Schull | Elizabeth Mackey |
| Chi Cao | Li Cunxin - adult |
| Chengwu Guo | Li Cunxin - teenage |
| Wen Bin Huang | Li Cunxin - boy |
| Joan Chen | Niang |
| Bruce Greenwood | Ben Stevenson |
| Kyle MacLachlan | Charles Foster |
| Jack Thompson | US Federal Judge |
| Camilla Vergotis | Mary McKendry |
| Madeleine Eastoe | Lori |
| Steven Heathcote | Bobby Cordner |
| Aden Young | Dilworth |
| Wang Shuangbao | |
| Barbara Bush | Herself (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| George H. W. Bush | Himself (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| Mao Zedong | Himself (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| Bruce Greenwood | |
| Kip Gamblin | David |
| George Ellis | Houston Ballet Conductor |
| Name | Job |
|---|---|
| Jan Sardi | Screenplay |
| Cunxin Li | Author |
| Sue MacKay | Line Producer |
| Mark Warner | Editor |
| Herbert Pinter | Production Design |
| Elaine Kusmishko | Art Direction |
| Kerrie Brown | Set Decoration |
| Anna Borghesi | Costume Design |
| Ziggy Golden | Makeup & Hair |
| Maree McDonald | Hairstylist |
| Xin Mu | Makeup Artist |
| Bruce Beresford | Director |
| Christopher Gordon | Music |
| Peter James | Director of Photography |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Geng Ling | Co-Producer |
| Troy Lum | Executive Producer |
| Jane Scott | Producer |
| Organization | Category | Person |
|---|
Popularity History
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| 2024 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 8 |
| 2024 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 6 |
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| 2024 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 6 |
| 2025 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 4 |
| 2025 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 3 |
| 2025 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 2 |
| 2025 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
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| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
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| 2025 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 2026 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
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