On a Tightrope (On a Tightrope)

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On a Tightrope
Original title	On a Tightrope
Type	Documentaries
Director	Petr Lom
Short summary	The Xinjiang Province in China is one of the worst places in the world when it comes to human rights abuse. The muslim Uyghurs are systematically oppressed. At least 10,000 have been imprisoned, suspected of separatism, and hundreds have been executed. This film follows four children at a government orphanage who are learning the ancient Uyghur tradition of Dawaz, tightrope walking.
Summary	In an orphanage in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, children study tightrope walking. The children are Uyghurs, the largest Muslim minority in China. Fearing the Uyghurs\' separatist movement, China rules with an iron fist in Xinjiang. Youngsters are forbidden to profess their religion, and the regime jumps at every opportunity to glorify the unity of China. Walking the tightrope is an age-old Uyghur tradition, and their feats are spectacular. The children look up to their coach, but his intentions are dubious. After nine months of intense training, most children are told they have failed and will not be able to continue the course. Petr Lom follows four children in the orphanage in their struggle to build a better life for themselves. They talk about the frustration of having to practise so hard, only to find out that it was all for nothing. But they also discuss their life in the orphanage and the required loyalty to communism, and their dreams for the future come up on a regular basis. Though not all of them really want a career in tightrope walking, they still feel that they have failed. Then, an elderly retired tightrope walker shows up and becomes their new coach. Lovingly and patiently, he teaches the children to walk the tightrope, this time with success. 60 min. version premiered in 2006. 70 min. version premiered in 2007.
Screenplay	Petr Lom
D.O.P	Petr Lom
Editor	Petr Lom
Sound	Petr Lom
Producer	Torstein Grude
Production company	Piraya Film as \| Lervigsveien 22 \| NO-4016 Stavanger \| Tel (+47) 51 11 63 36 \| Fax (+47) 51 11 63 37
Co-producer	Lom Films \| 5353 West Desert Inn Road unit 2073 \| 89146 Las Vegas \| USA \| Tel./Fax + 1 702 2216372 \| e-mail: petr (at) lomfilms.com
Country of origin	Norway, Canada
Release date (national)	2007-03-30
Release date (international)	2006-11-25
Technical information
Format	DIGIBETA
Colour	Colour
Length in min's	60 or 70
International sales	Films Transit International Inc. \| 252 Gouin Boulevard East \| Montreal \| Quebec \| Canada H3L 1A8 \| Tel. 1 514 844 3358 \| Fax. 1 514 844 7298
Distributor (Norway only)	Tour de Force
Festival participation	2006 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2006 Watch Docs, Warszawa 2007 Sundance Film Festival 2007 Göteborg Film Festival 2007 ZagrebDox 2007 One World Human Rights Film Festival, Prague 2007 EuroDok, European Documentary Film Festival, Oslo, Norway 2007 Cleveland Int'l Film Festival 2007 DocAviv, Tel Aviv Int'l Documentary Film Festival 2007 Chicago Documentary Film Festival 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival, USA 2007 Kontakt - Ukranian Documentary Film Festival - Norwegian special 2007 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival 2007 Norwegian Documentary Film Festival Volda 2007 Maryland Int'l Film Festival, USA 2007 Pärnu International Film Festival, Estonia 2007 Golden Apricot, Yerevan Int'l Film Festival, Armenia 2007 Dokufest Prizren, Kosova 2007 Flahertiana, Perm, Russia 2007 DOCNZ, New Zealand 2007 Taiwan Int'l Ethnographic Film Festival 2007 Perspektive - Nürnberger Filmfestival der Menschenrechte 2007 Document 5- International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Scotland 2007 Mostra São Paulo Int'l Film Festival Brazil 2007 Astra Filmfest, Romania 2007 United Nations Association Film Festival, Stanford, USA 2008 Glasgow Film Festival 2008 Tempo Documentary Film Festival, Stockholm, Sweden 2008 Int'l Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights. Geneva, Switzerland 2008 Bilan du Film - Jean Rouch Film Festival 2008 Bilan du Film, Jean Rouch Film Festival, France 2008 Worldfilm, Tartu, Estonia 2008 Festival de Cinéma de Douarnenez, France 2008 Russian Anthropoligical Film Festival 2008 Golden Minbar, Kazan 2009 Millennium Festival, Bruxelles 2009 Jakarta Int. Film Festival, Indonesia
Prizes received	2006 Watch Docs, Warszawa: Watch Doc Award 2007 Chicago International Documentary Film Festival: Chicago Doc Short Film Grand Prix 2007 Astra Film Festival: International Section Award offered by the Raþiu Charitable Family Foundation
URL	http://www.piraya.no

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Director biography:
Director Petr Lom Petr Lom was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1968. He grew up in Canada and received his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard University in 1997. He gave up his career in the University in 2004 to pursue a full-time career as a documentary filmmaker. His first film was Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan (2004).