A class apart

Li Junlin fulfilled a long-held ambition to direct his first feature highlighting the struggle of China's 'left-behind' children. Xu Fan reports.

When director Li Junlin read the news that the number of China's "left-behind" children was estimated to have surpassed 60 million, the filmmaker recalled his early years as one of them.

It also became the major impetus for him to produce A Class of One, Li's directorial feature debut, which examines the pain and struggle of a group of vulnerable youths seen from the perspective of a countryside schoolteacher, who has devoted his life to rural education.