Director‘s Statement:
Xinjiang is the largest province in China, taking up 1/5 of the landmass, with the largest Chinese Islamic population. Having lived amongst Muslims in the past, I have always been fascinated by the vast landmass, the exotic ethnic customs, and the mythical stories of Nasreddin from Xinjiang ever since I was a child. But over the years the real image of Xinjiang has faded, where its life and its people are hardly ever in the news or on television. It wasn’t until the July 5th, 2009 riots that Xinjiang came back into our collective consciousness.
I met and became good friends with brothers Aydar and Xirali while filming ESP Urumqi Parkour Team. Aydar is the team leader who’s deeply passionate about parkour. He wrote to me recently to say that in order to lessen his mom’s financial burdens, he decided not to attend college. He found a security guard job at a bank. And he said he’s not too happy with his brother Xirali’s grades. But the two brothers will always have that common love for parkour. He asked if I would film a trailer for their team in order to submit to the National Parkour Competition to be held in Beijing. I agreed to make a trailer but also wanted to document the young, passionate, and fearless parkour kids.
I hope, through our film, people will get to know more about Xinjiang, understand Xinjiang youth, their lives, and gain a glimpse of their coming of age.