China's top drama academy stages the American musical “Fame” – China’s first official collaboration with Broadway – as the graduation showcase for its senior class. During the eight-month rehearsal, students with diverse personalities and family backgrounds compete for roles, struggle with pressure
from family and authority, and prepare to graduate into China’s corrupt entertainment industry. Part of China’s single-child generation, they were spoiled growing up but are now obliged to carry on the failed dreams of their parents.
CHEN Lei, rebellious and hungry to shine in the spotlight, feels repressed in China and wants to seek freedom and success in America; Fei, naughty and street smart, hustles for money and fame to make his family proud; WU Heng, a talented musician and singer, is endowed with good looks but no prominent background. They all have big dreams for the future but struggle to make their dreams come true. In the process of staging “Fame”, they must confront their own anxieties, complex social realities and negotiate their own definitions of and paths to success in modern China.
The Road to Fame gives a rare, intimate look at the coming of age of some of China's most promising yet confused youth and, through their stories, reflects some of the most sensitive issues and conflicting values shaping China today.
About the Director
Originally trained as a molecular biologist, Hao Wu now travels between the Internet and filmmaking worlds. He directed and produced Beijing or Bust, his first feature documentary that was shown on PBS. In addition to The Road to Fame, he is producing Zanta, a feature documentary about a Tibetan widow’s struggle to raise her son in Beijing. In the Internet world, Hao has worked in management positions in Silicon Valley and with Alibaba and Yahoo in China. From 2008-2011, he was the China Country Manager for TripAdvisor.
Hao now lives in Beijing and New York, developing documentary projects full-time. He holds a Master of Science degree from Brandeis University, an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and a Certificate in Digital Video Production from the Beijing Film Academy.
Filmography
2013 Zanta: Producer
2006 Beijing or Bust: Director, Producer and Writer
Film Festival
※The 33rd Hawaii International Film Festival 2013
※20th Sheffield Doc/Fest Film 2013
※2014 The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival ,Documentary Feature: Grand Jury Award;Special Jury Awards, Documentary: Best Editor
※The 20th Chinese Top10 Best TV Documentary, Top10 Length 2014
