Documentary Leap of Faith to open Electric Shadows 2024 on 25 November at the Showcase Cinema in Leicester, UK.

★★★★★ 5/5

As an outstanding Chinese independent filmmaker, Yang Lina’s works have come into the public eye with a steady stream of high ratings. Her new documentary, Leap of Faith, is rich with the personal character distinctive to an independent film, enabling it to bring the emotional brilliance of girls’ equestrian pursuits to the audience.

Leap of Faith documents the equestrian journey of a group of Chinese girls. Yang’s daughter, Zou Haolin, is one of these girls, and is the reason Yang has learnt about the story. In this documentary, Yang’s female perspective is present throughout the film. The film’s Chinese title, Girls and Horses, places the girls in the front, but the film’s story begins with the sacrifices and even deaths of horses in this sport. Meanwhile, the girls’ deep caring for the horses and fighting side by side serve as a prelude to the introduction of their daily lives as adolescent girls.

‘It was life that made me a feminist.’ Yang said. A focus on females is a hallmark of Yang’s films, and Leap of Faith also reflects that. As a result, the girls’ love of horses and equestrianism is present throughout the film, as documented from a mother’s record. The strong emotions of the race and parting are finally brought out in the rear part of the film, allowing the whole story to reach a high point of narrative and lyricism.

To the general public, equestrianism is not a sport associated with everyone, it may seem foreign and distant to people. Therefore, being too personal is a possible misgiving for this film. However, for independent films, it is the connection between the subject matter and the filmmaker that is the beginning of the work, and the prerequisite for making a masterpiece. In fact, although Leap of Faith is a personal story, it is because of this that Yang is able to get close to the girls and the horses and even be one of the de facto parties involved. Through the personal story, the concern and celebration of life will be smoothly transmitted to the audience, bringing a universal emotional resonance, especially at the end of the film, when the girls and the horses run like the wind together between sky and land.

Leap of Faith is the Opening Film for Electric Shadows 2024, a Leicester based Chinese film festival.