Producers: Joan Chen, Alice Chan, Allison Liu, Cecile Shah Tsuei Screenwriters: Joan Chen, Yan Geling
Original Story: Yan Geling
Director of Photography: Lu Yue
Editor: Ruby Yang
Music: Johnny Chen
Principal cast: Lu Lu, Lopsang, Gao Jie.

Twin Peaks star Joan Chen makes a revelatory directorial debut with this elegant historical melodrama. As the Cultural Revolution waned, millions of Chinese were sent from the cities to the country for re-education through labor. One such educated youth is Xiu Xiu, who forms a bond of sorts with taciturn castrated herdsman, Lao Jin-only to slowly realize that she is being cruelly used by a series of petty officials. Filmed on the spectacular plains of the Sichuan-Tibetan border, Xiu Xiu is an American production, as the sexually -charged theme (the source novella's title Tian Yu means "Heavenly Bath") might never have been cleared by Beijing. With freedom comes power. Xiu Xiu is a stirring tale of one woman's defiance against a mighty government. - Eddie Cockrell