Set in rural China during the Cultural Revolution, when outdoor cinemas enchanted China's masses and audiences breathed and dreamed as one, Mèng Yǐng Tóngnián/Electric Shadows tells of a young man and woman whose love of movies has shaped and guided the lives.

The story is set into motion by a disastrous encounter: delivery man Dabing, done with the day's deliveries, crashes while racing to the movie theatre on his bike. As he's picking himself up, a young woman named Ling Ling hits him on the head with a brick for no apparent reason. In the hospital, Dabing learns that Ling Ling is also being treated-- in the psychiatric unit. When he confronts her, Ling Ling asks him to go to her home to feed her fish. Intrigued by this strange request (and more than a little smitten by her beauty), Dabing does so and discovers that Ling Ling's apartment is a virtual shrine to the movies, filled with posters, stills and memorabilia. He also finds her extraordinary diary and begins to read the stories of a little girl's passion for the movies, which reminiscent his own.

Director: Xiao Jiang

Stars: Yu Xia, Haibin Li, Yijing Zhang, Zhongyang Qii, Zhengjia Wang

NR, 93 mins., 2004.