A co-production feature documentary by UK-China Film Collab, with a working title as THE QUEENS OF 147 begins shooting in both the UK and China.
Synopsis
Born in Britain and popularized in China via Hong Kong in the 1980s, snooker has long been stereotyped as a ‘gentleman’s’ sport — but a new generation of women, driven by their love for the game, is reshaping its landscape. The documentary follows two Chinese players—Bai Yulu, the reigning World Women’s Champion, and Tianyi, the passionate amateur whose life is transformed by snooker. Moving between the spotlight and the margins, between professional triumph and quiet persistence, the two women reveal different ways of inhabiting the same game where they remain underrepresented.
Together, their stories trace not only the shifting possibilities for women in snooker, but also the deeply personal odyssey of finding belonging, endurance and ambition. Anchored in the quiet arena and zone between a person and the game through which they’re narrating , this journey unfolds within a space long defined by both gender and cultural exclusion.
The Team
Director
Director & Producer, Lea Pan – A documentary filmmaker working in Shanghai and London, with broad experience in contemporary art and art management.
Exectuvie Producer, Hiu Man Chan – The Founder and Director of the NGO UK-China Film Collab, and a producer and university lecturer. Her expertise lies in film festival programming and film exhibition. She initiated the nationwide re-release of “Lust, Caution” in the UK, breaking the box office record for Chinese-language films re-released locally. She is the Artistic Director of the Odyssey Film Festival and a trustee of the Independent Cinema Office (ICO) in the UK.
Editor, Ruiting Liu – A freelance editor from Shanghai, China. Her work has been recognized at numerous independent and major film festivals, including FIRST International Film Festival, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and Visions du Réel.
With extensive experience in post-production, she brings a detail-oriented, story-driven approach to The Queens of 147. To reveal the unspoken bond between the players and their cues without traditional narrations, she arranges the breadth of fragments she accumulated so that meaning and narrative emerge in their construction. She attends closely to the minute details in the footage—a fleeting gesture during casual snooker practice, a delicate shift in expression, a line that heightens tension within the game. Weaving details as such portrays their solitary, unapologetic dedication that quietly transcends labels, competition, and social norms in the smallest units.
ROUGH CUT TEASER
Accreditations
Official Selection – WIP “Future Project”, Golden Tree Documentary Film Festival 2024, Paris, France
Official Selection – Documentary Hub, Watersprite Film Festival 2024, Cambridge, UK
PRODUCTION NOTES (Updates Ongoing)
Title: THE QUEENS OF 147
Genre: Feature documentary
Directed by Lea Pan
Producer by Lea Pan
Edited by Ruiting Liu
Executive Producer: Hiu Man Chan
Screenplay: Hiu Man Chan, Lea Pan
Director of Photography: Lea Pan
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
World Women’s Snooker (WWS)
World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA)
World Snooker Tour (WST)
Contact the producer for partnership/collaboration inquiries: admin@ukchinafilm.com – conversation welcome.
