This beautiful and heart wrenching film follows the story of Tia Zhang, a young Chinese ballerina during the reign of Mao Zedong.

Written by Agnes Bristow, the story takes place over nearly 50 years, blending the dancer’s personal life with deadly historic events. Like her husband who was accused of crimes against the communist government and condemned to a labour camp, Tia was sent away to live in over-crowded barracks where she worked rice paddies, isolated from everyone she loved, including her newborn son.

Amin was honoured to write the music for the ballet performances in the film, using his trademark orchestral layering techniques on vintage and virtual instruments.

Says Amin “All these new sample libraries have great sounds but I still find that playing all the section parts in separately still sounds better than a single “instant orchestra” patch. It takes a lot more time but it’s worth it.”

Music by: James Mark Stewart
Additional Music: Amin Bhatia
Music Supervision: Michael Perlmutter
Director: Leif Bristow
Production: Leif Films
Distribution: Dancing Through the Shadow Inc.