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English Titles M

Mozart in China

Original title: Mozart in China
German title: Mozart in China
Austria/Germany/China, 2007

Director: Neuburger, Bernd
Production company: Extrafilm, Kick Film, Payerischer Rundfunk
Co-producers: Kery TV Media Bejing, Coop99
Age recommendation: 6 years and up

Synopsis:
Danny and Li Wei, two ten-year-old boys from Salzburg, decide to spend their summer vacation at the house of Li Wei’s grandfather on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
Mozart, a marionette from Salzburg’s puppet theater, comes alive that night, hides in Danny’s suitcase and flies with the two to China.

Li Wei’s relatives live in Adong, an ancient fishing village rarely visited by tourists on the island’s eastern coast.
With the help of his granddaughter Lin Lin, Grandfather Wang is restoring his shadow theater, which was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
A friendship develops between Danny and Lin Lin, and Mozart falls in love with the beautiful shadow princess Xiao, for whom he composes the “Chinese Sonata.”

Everyday life in China is exotic and an adventure for Danny, as are the nightly hunt for the diamond fish on the open sea, which ends dramatically in a storm; their exploration of the ruins of the Secret Palace deep in the island’s mountains, and the colorful and dramatic wedding celebration with fireworks and a shadow theater performance which is held in a mountain village.

Some time ago Grandfather Wang borrowed money from loan shark Yue Han to rebuild his shadow theater. Yue Han now demands that Wang make the last payment, which is overdue, within ten days?otherwise the building where the theater and workshop are located will be taken away from him and sold to an international hotel chain, which plans to tear it down and build a hotel on the land.

With Mozart’s help the children manage to prevent the catastrophe at the last moment. The colorful two-dimensional shadow puppets, which come to life in the shadow theater only, are safe, and Mozart learns that the new love he feels is mutual. He then decides to stay in China just a little longer....

Festivals:
Montreal 2008 (awarded), Cairo 2008, Zlin 2008, Golden Sparrow Gera & Erfurt 2008, Zlin 2008, Munich 2008, Hamedan/Iran 2008, Seoul 2008, Mexico 2008, Chicago 2008 (awarded), Madrid 2008 (awarded), London Children's Film Festival 2008, Nueva Mirada Buenos Aires 2008 (awarded), Auburn/Australia 2008, Divercine Montevideo/Uruguay 2008, Tel Aviv 2008, Ostrava/Czech Republic 2008, Istanbul 2008, Minsk 2008, Cinemagic Belfast 2008, FICI Madrid 2008, Olympia Pyrgos 2008, Moscow 2008, Solothurn 2009, Max-Ophüls Festival Saarbrücken/Germany 2009, BAMkids Brooklyn 2009, Lucknow/India 2009, Sprockets Toronto 2009, Syracuse/New York 2009, Lipetsk/Russia 2009 (awarded), Brisbane/Australia 2009, Chennai/India 2009, Mumbai/India 2009, Kolkata/India 2009, Hyderabad/India 2009, Castellinaria Bellinzona 2009 (awarded), Goelali Jakarta 2010, Dhaka/Bangla Desh 2011

Website: www.filmladen.at/mozart/index.html

World sales address/es:
Attraction Distribution (CDN)

Sold to:
Filmladen (AT)