Against all odds

As recently as two years ago, screenwriter Xue Xiaolu was struggling to convince production companies to back a movie she had written about a man's struggle to care for his young autistic son.

Ocean Heaven was pitched as 'an ordinary story about the emotions felt by ordinary people'. And although Xue was already a prominent television screenwriter and a lecturer at the Beijing Film Academy when she completed the script in 2006, all her meetings with financiers found them unreceptive.

She was trying to make a film with good production values to help audiences empathise with the plight of autistic people and their families. But most investors only envisioned it as a small, low-budget project, Xue says. 'I was telling them this is not a film that should be done that way - for an ordinary romantic drama, yes, but not this one. And I wasn't doing this film just so I could experience the thrill of becoming a director.'

Last year, however, Xue finally secured backing from Hong Kong film mogul Bill Kong Chi-keung, and Ocean Heaven was made with a stellar cast and crew she had not thought possible.

Martial arts star Jet Li - who was impressed enough by the story to work free of charge - appears in his first non-action role as the father, an ailing aquarium mechanic. Wen Chang, who shot to fame last year in the mainland television series Dwelling Narrowness, plays his autistic son.

Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi - well-known for his work for master animator Hayao Miyazaki - was recruited to write the musical score, joining a team that also included editor William Chang Suk-ping, production designer Yee Chung-man and cinematographer Christopher Doyle.