Red is the most distinctive background color of the city of Shanghai. The opening film of the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival is the dance drama film "The Eternal Wave" directed by Zheng Dasheng and Cui Yi. The film will have its world premiere after the Golden Goblet Gala on June 15, paying tribute to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Shanghai.

Poster of "The Eternal Wave"

The well-known story of "Eternal Radio Waves" took place on the eve of the liberation of Shanghai. It is based on the true story of the martyr Li Bai and is a city name card hatched by the red cultural genes of Shanghai. In 1937, Li Bai was sent by the party organization to Shanghai to be responsible for the party's secret radio station. In the midst of crises, he and his revolutionary lover Qiu Huiying lurked for 12 years, always secretly fighting on the "Shanghai-Yan'an" air communication line. In the early morning of December 30, 1948, Li Bai was unfortunately arrested. The telegram of "Comrades, goodbye!" struck down the fearless spirit of defending ideals and beliefs with his life. On May 7, 1949, the martyr Li Bai was secretly killed by Kuomintang spies in Pudong, Shanghai, at the age of 39. 20 days later, Shanghai was declared liberated.

The story of "The Eternal Wave" has been adapted into works of art many times. Among them, the 1958 movie of the same name starring Sun Daolin became a Chinese film with extremely wide influence. In 2018, the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe created the dance drama "The Eternal Wave". With its groundbreaking choreography and excellent expressiveness, it was a hit at its premiere. In 2019, it won the 15th Central Propaganda Department's "Five One Project" Outstanding Work Award and the Wenhua Award. Now, with the purpose of creatively transforming and innovatively developing excellent red culture and expanding the path of red cultural dissemination, the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe has joined hands with Shangshi Pictures to launch the dance drama film "The Eternal Wave", turning the "dance drama that adopts some film narrative techniques" into a "dance drama film", and "The Eternal Wave" has once again renewed the story expression.

Zheng Dasheng, Chairman of the Shanghai Film Association and the film's chief director, chose to incorporate several historical documentaries into the film in order to present it in an "accidental insertion" state, based on his artistic thinking on presenting the "real scene". He believes that "no form can match the shock of the real scene".

From film to stage, and back to film, the story of "Radio Waves" draws an artistic spiral over the sky of Shanghai, the "Glorious City", and records a heroic hymn that is engraved in history with its continuous vitality. The dance drama film "Eternal Radio Waves" will be officially released nationwide on June 18 after being screened as the opening film of this film festival. At the same time, the film will be a blockbuster work in the special screening unit of this film festival, "City·Light and Shadow: Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of New China and the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Shanghai". This unit selects new domestic films and Shanghai-themed films from different periods, and uses film language to show the red culture, Shanghai culture, and Jiangnan culture in the blood of Shanghai.

This film, directed by the Publicity Department of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, proudly presented by Shanghai Radio and Television Station, and produced by the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe and Shanghai Shangshi Film Co., Ltd., is adapted from the original dance drama of the same name by the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe, with Han Zhen and Zhou Liya as the chief choreographers. It stars Wang Jiajun and Zhu Jiejing, the chief actors of the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe, and the original young dancers of the troupe perform passionately.