By Angela Feng
Pictures courtesy of New Realm Studio
The movie begins on a cloudy summer night in Tianjin, China. Dim street lights cast a warm glow over a park bench where a young girl lies across her mother’s lap. In smooth, melodic tones, the mother is recounting the story behind her daughter’s name, when suddenly the sky breaks into a downpour. Just as their pleasant evening was ruined by the rainstorm, the pair will soon find their lives thrown into chaos.
Up We Soar tells the true story of a family that fell victim to the religious persecution of Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual practice, in China. The documentary depicts the point of view of the young daughter, Fuyao, who was forced to go through her adolescent years on her own, as well as that of her mother, Huijuan, who was imprisoned for her faith in Falun Gong’s core principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Though their journey was full of hardship, the two remained unwaveringly faithful to their values.
Caption: Released in December 2020, ”Up We Soar” is the first full-length animated film of Toronto-based filmmaker Yan Ma.
Released in December 2020, Up We Soar has already received plenty of critical acclaim. It is director Yan Ma’s first full-length animated film. It won the Best Feature award at the Los Angeles Animation Festival. It has also been selected by several other prestigious festivals, including Sparks Animation Festival and CINANIMA.
An Inspiring Journey
In July 1999, the lives of millions of Chinese citizens, including this ordinary family, changed forever. The Chinese regime began the persecution of Falun Gong. Fuyao’s father was arrested, publicly humiliated, and sent to a labor camp. Her mother was fired from her job and placed under house arrest. She and Fuyao were confined to a small, one-bedroom apartment in the school where she used to teach. They were banned from going to grocery stores and allowed to shower only once a month.
The situation went from bad to worse when Huijuan was forced to flee the city, leaving Fuyao with her grandparents. For months Huijuan traveled the country, spreading the truth about Falun Gong until she was arrested.
For the young Fuyao, this was all hard to comprehend. She went from being like every other kid to suddenly being parentless and ostracized by her peers. She didn’t understand—why was the practice that helped her father recover from hepatitis suddenly illegal, and why were good people like her parents being treated like criminals?
Through the heartwarming letters between mother and daughter, the documentary recounts the seven years of Huijuan’s imprisonment. It shows Huijuan’s strength and resilience in the face of the abuse she received from the prison guards and other inmates. It also follows Fuyao’s maturation from a little girl to a young woman. In spite of all the obstacles she faced, she never lost hold of the values her parents had instilled in her.
Crafting an Authentic Story
Up We Soar is unique in that it combines animation and live-action interview footage. Fuyao and her family were residing in the United States when director Ma heard of their journey. As the persecution is still going on in China, it wouldn’t have been safe for Ma or any of them to travel there to film. Ma began his career working as an art director at a video-game company, and has experience with 3-D animation. As a result, he decided to use this method to tell the story.
“We used animation as a means of expression—every scene comes from the family’s actual experiences, down to the smallest details,” Ma said in an interview with Elite Lifestyle Magazine. However, he then faced the challenge of ensuring that the film maintained the authentic feeling of a conventional documentary. As the majority of the story is told through animation, it could be easy for viewers to forget that it is based on real events.
Yan Ma believes film is an effective medium for creating a positive impact. Through this documentary, he hopes to raise awareness about the Chinese regime’s persecution of people who practice the gentle spiritual discipline Falun Gong. (Picture courtesy of Yan Ma)
To imbue the film with authenticity, it was important to choose the right animation technique and style. Motion capture was used to make things look as realistic as possible. Because the film deals with such a serious subject matter, the whimsical, more exaggerated art styles common in Disney and Pixar movies wouldn’t have been appropriate.
Acclaimed comic book artist Daxiong worked on the film as the character and background designer. Ma admired Daxiong’s unique art style, which focuses heavily on individual lines instead of colors and shadowing. It is similar to traditional Chinese drawing styles. In one scene, Huijuan describes the torture methods used in the prison. The sharp black-and-white lines of the sketch effectively convey the cruelty of the actions without being too graphic.
Huijuan describes one of the torture methods used against Falun Gong practitioners in prison.
Spreading the Truth
Ma believes film is an effective medium for creating a positive impact. He works on projects that speak to significant social issues. While Fuyao’s story is heartbreaking, it is unfortunately a common one. Tens of millions across China have been persecuted for their beliefs, with countless families being torn apart.
According to Ma, the harmful influence of the Chinese Communist Party can be felt all around the world—especially with the chaos wreaked by the COVID pandemic. When the virus first emerged, the Chinese regime attempted to hide it by suppressing whistleblowers. Doctors who tried to reveal the truth were silenced and imprisoned, similar to the way Falun Gong practitioners are treated.
Ma hopes this film will inspire audiences during times of such tumult and adversity. “It is a heavy story, but it still feels very hopeful. Though Fuyao and her mother go through unimaginable hardships, it doesn’t make them resentful. Rather, they responded with courage and compassion,” he said.
The movie is a testament to the strength of the human spirit when one doesn’t lose grasp of one’s values. It was Huijuan’s unwavering faith in her beliefs that helped her overcome some of her most difficult obstacles.
While visiting her mother in jail, Fuyao encourages Huijuan not to renounce her faith.
In 2009, Huijan was finally released from prison, and the entire family was reunited. Fuyao’s father had been released three years earlier. They were eventually able to flee China and receive asylum in the United States. Today, Fuyao lives in New York and is a successful news anchor. As Fuyao and her mother have proven, one can blossom even under the darkest circumstances.
In the film’s final scene, the protagonist, Fuyao, stands amid a sea of lotus flowers. As the camera pans out, she says that she finally has the answer to her biggest question in life.
‘Up We Soar’ already released on Youtube channel of “Legends Unfolding”.
