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Vivienne Chow

Disenchantment with 'propaganda journalism' on the mainland caused Li Yu to turn her pretty face away from the camera and sit in the director's chair.

Now, the former TV host is an award-winning film director.

'I was a TV show host, like a news anchor,' says Li, 32.

'But there's no real news in China. You are only publicising their voices. You are not allowed to add your opinion or analysis. I was very unhappy ... I realised I had to find another way to speak my own voice.'

That drove  Li to quit her job and home town of Shandong for  Beijing, where she began making documentaries for CCTV.

Making documentaries about real life paved the way for her to tell fictional tales on the silver screen.

'Because documentaries are about the life of real people, it hurts people at the same time. If I turn them into fictional films, it won't hurt,' she explains.

Not only did they not hurt, they  landed her numerous awards. Her last film, Dam Street, about a 16-year-old village girl getting pregnant, won her the top award at the Asian Film Festival in France and the CICAE Award  at the Venice film festival.

Li has been busy  preparing for her new project, Lost in Beijing. At the earlier Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, Li found a French investor for  her project.

Although Dam Street earned her recognition as a director, Li says: 'I think Dam Street was better than my previous film, but I feel that my next film will be even better. Although people say that they liked [Dam Street], I think there's still something lacking.  But it's all over. Only my new film will excite me.

'Documentaries really helped my film-making. It's not like a film, where you have a script. It's about life,' says Li. 'Chinese directors lack training in filming documentaries. But now many directors have begun making documentaries. It's a good thing.'

When Li was 16, her mother signed her up for a show host contest. 'My mother thought it was a presentable and easy job. It paid well and was stable. She thought it would be great for a girl.'

But after about seven years, the system of the state-owned station depressed her.  'I didn't like putting on make-up every day. I don't like being a star because I don't want to lose my freedom.'

In her next project, Li will explore  people's pain in the face of rapid  economic growth, as  the 2008 Olympics draws near.

'The development is too fast, but people's mentality can't catch up with the economic boom. Shanghai is purely a business city,' she says.

'But Beijing is the most contradictory. It's a political capital but at the same time it has a lot of energy, for example, lots of underground culture and arts growing. No other cities in China are like this.'

Dam Street is screening at 12.30pm at Times Square House D.



Former TV host finds her own voice as a director