My Football Summer

My Football Summer (奇蹟的夏天)
Film poster
Directed by	Yang Li-chou Chang Rong-ji
Produced by	Michelle Chu
Distributed by	Serenity Entertainment
Release date(s)	September 22, 2006
Running time	103 min.
Language	Mandarin (subtitled Chinese and English)

My Football Summer (Chinese: 奇蹟的夏天; pinyin: Qíjī de xiàtiān; Wade–Giles: Ch'i-chi te hsia-t'ien, literally "A Miraculous Summer") is a 2006 documentary film directed by Taiwanese directors Yang Li-chou and Chang Rong-ji about a group of young aboriginal football players in pursuit of a dream.

Origin

In the beginning of 2006, Yang was commissioned by Nike Taiwan to make a 5-minute long commercial for the incoming 2006 FIFA World Cup. During the filming, Yang felt the story was too touching to be fulfilled by only four short videos, and therefore he decided to extend the project into a feature-length documentary and asked his student and cameraman, Chang, to be the co-director.

Plot

In Hualien, players of Mei Lun Junior High School (Chinese: 美崙國中) football team are preparing for the upcoming National High School Games, which is one of the major youth football competitions in Taiwan. It is the last, and the most important, game in their three years of junior-high-school life. They are eager to win, not only because they are the defending champion, but also they want to devote the title to their beloved coach, Wu Hsiao-yin, as his wedding gift.

Things go well in the beginning. They beat every team they encounter and eventually reach the final, in which they meet their major contender, Alian Junior High School (阿蓮國中) of Kaohsiung County. They make 2-2 at the full time whistle, and lose the game in the penalty shootout.

The life keeps going on. After graduation, some players enter National Hualien Senior High School, whereas the others enter Hualien Vocational High School of Agriculture. They meet each other again in a friendly match between the two school teams, but they are now competitors.

Multimedia

Trailers:

• Trailer on YouTube

Nike commercials:

• Honor
• Team
• Heart
• Joy
• Behind the scenes

Honors

• 2006 Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary

Follow-up

• In November 2006, Hualien Vocational High School of Agriculture gained victory over Lu Chu Senior High School, which consisted of many players from A Lien Junior High School, in the final of men's under-17 group of 2006 National Youth Cup.^[1]

References

1. ^ "青年杯足球錦標賽》10人花農氣走路竹　稱霸16歲男生組" (in Chinese). LTSports. 2006-11-18. http://www.ltsports.com.tw/newweb/news.asp?no=50099&N_Class=4. 

External links

• My Football Summer official site
• My Football Summer at the Internet Movie Database
• My Football Summer at Serenity Entertainment International official site
• My Football Summer at Asian Film Market
• My Football Summer at Taipei Times
• (Chinese) Official forum
• (Chinese) Football at Taiwan Nike official site
• (Chinese) Official blog of Mei Lun Junior High School football team