Following her dreams
Film about a girl and her desire to dance premieres in Beijing
Taklamakan’s Drumbeat, a film produced by Tianshan Mountain Film Studio of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, premiered in Beijing on Monday at the Great Hall of the People.
Revolving around a young girl named Ayiguli who lives in a remote village near the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the film portrays her pursuit to become a dancer despite her parents’ objections. With the help of a local village Party chief, Ayiguli fulfills her dream.
“There are nearly 300,000 Party chiefs working in over 10,000 villages across Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region who make great contributions to the local development and build a strong connection with local villagers. We want to dedicate this film to them,” said Gao Huanggang, president of the film studio, which was founded in 1959 and has produced over 100 films and translated about 2,600 mov- ies, documentaries and TV shows of the Uygur language into Mandarin.
Silzati Yakov, the film’s director and one of the screenwriters, said he, the cast and production team visited villages near the Taklamakan Desert to look for inspiration.
“We talked with villagers and local Party chiefs while observing their lives. It took us around two years to finish the production and we believe that audiences will see a real Xinjiang and the people living there from the film,” said Yakov, who graduated from Beijing Film Academy in 1985 and works as a director for the studio. “The movie will showcase modern Xinjiang as a backdrop with its beautiful natural scenes, economic development and harmonious lives of the local people.”
Actress Ayipaly Uguli, 19, plays the leading role of Ayiguli.
“This is my first movie and I was very nervous when I played the role of Ayiguli, a beautiful young woman who is determined about her dream. I spent over 20 days living with local villagers near the Taklamakan Desert, which was an inspiring experience for my acting,” said Uguli, who was born and grew up in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. Now, she is in her first year as an acting student at Zhejiang University of Media and Communications in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
Director Yakov said the film also displays folk dance, music and instruments of the Uygur ethnic group in Xinjiang, such as different types of drums. Yakov also directed Genu
ine Love, a 2014 film based on the story of Anipa Alimahong, a Uygur ethnic woman, now 78, who adopted 19 children from six ethnic groups, namely Kazak, Hui, Han, Uygur, Tartar and Uzbek. In 2009, she won the annual Touching China Award from China Central Television, recognizing her as one of the country’s 10 most inspiring role models.