Entertainment> Celebrities

Candid camera

By Liu Wei (Liu Wei)
2009-03-03 09:10

When Liu suddenly limped away from the start line and quit his first race in Beijing, Gu was as stunned as the millions of viewers around the world.

"Of course I was very shocked and disappointed," Gu says. That day, she was in the Bird's Nest with one of her seven cinematography teams, armed with a battery of cameras inside and outside the stadium.

"I found he was a bit unusual before the race, because I had been capturing him for a long time. I felt something was not right but I never thought he would quit."

Her cameras, however, focused more on Liu's arduous daily training and the tens of thousands of disappointed faces in the stands when his dream crumbled.

"Liu was under unimaginable pressure, from the overwhelming cheering, the eager faces of the spectators and the stress of being an outstanding athlete of a sport item the country has long been weak at," Gu says.

"The idea I want to convey is, the gold medal is not everything. Do we need to exhaust ourselves? Isn't peace and friendship more important?"

The athletes are only part of the two-hour film. Also featured are volunteers, security workers and even those who worked to keep the traffic moving. Exclusive footage of how Zhang Yimou and his team worked on the Opening Ceremony is also included.

The film is now being edited and will be shown in at least two languages, English and Chinese, with subtitles. It is like to be shown around the world in time for the one-year anniversary of the Beijing Games in August.