China has picked Peter Chan's biographical sports drama Leap to represent the country at next year's Oscar race in the international feature category.
The film follows the travails and triumphs of China's women's national volleyball team over a period of more than 40 years. Gong Li stars as legendary player-turned-coach Lang Ping, a member of the Chinese squad that won a Gold Medal over the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
As a coach, she would later lead the Chinese team to gold medal glory at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Leap's cast also includes ten out of the 12 Olympic Gold medalists from China's 2016 team appearing as themselves.
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