(Ecns.cn)--The six-episode TV series "Nuan Dong" or "The Warm Winner," directed, written and acted by farmers in north China's Shanxi Province, recently obtained a governmental permit to broadcast nationwide, according to the Guangming Daily Monday.
It is a dream come true for TV series' director Li Ma, a farmer who lives in a small village at the foot of the Zi Jinshan Mountain in Shanxi. At the age of 14, Li, who now in his 50s, saw a camera for the firt time in his relatives' home and began to think that one day he would make his own movie.
In 1980, as the eldest son of a common farming family, Li gave up a chance to become a pilot and began his life as a farmer. A year later, he also undertook the responsibility to become projectionist for the village. "Every time I saw a film, I reminded myself that one day I would make one like that," said Li.
In 1984, he bought his first camera and began to take pictures of and for the villagers. Then in 1991, he spent 12,000 yuan (US$1,885) on a video camera and started a business shooting weddings. Soon he opened his own photographic studio there.
The video camer,transformed Li into an amateur independent filmmaker, shooting and editing documentaries and feature stories of his own devising. But all these were just the steps that took him closer to his dream. In 2009, in order to improve his skills as a cinematographer, Li studied at the Communication University of China.
On finishing his courses, Li returned to his village and came across a script written by a fellow farmer, Wang Shisheng. The story told of how a woman kept her family together after losing contact with her husband who went to Wenchuan to help out after the terrible earthquake hit on May 12, 2008.
Li soon found his cast among the villagers and started to shoot on November 14, 2010. Though most of Li's family did not support his project, he stopped work on everything but the film, and injected most of his savings into making the series as well.
After half a year the film was in the can, and by March all the post production work was completed as well. Li screened it for his mother and to his surprise, she watched it over and over and declared it to be a good one, destined to be loved by farmers.
Li is in pre-production for another movie centered on farmers and plans to open a media company eventually, his intention being to shoot more movies and TV series for rural audiences.
