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Director Ron Berrett's An American in China wins the 2008 George Sidney Independent Film Competition - Best Full Length Feature Film Award
Named for renowned director George Sidney, longtime supporter of the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival and indie filmmakers during his lifetime, “An American In China” takes the first prize: Best Full Length Feature Film. Among Mr. Sidney’s extensive accomplishments, which include directing over fifty films including "Pal Joey," Annie Get Your Gun, Bye Bye Birdie, and Viva Las Vegas. He was an innovator who paired live actors like Gene Kelly on screen with animated characters like cartoon mouse Jerry in Anchors Aweigh in 1945. He was the first recipient of the DGA President's Award in 1998. He financed and founded Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1944 and was president for 10 years. He was president of the Screen Directors Guild from 1951 to 1959, and president of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) from 1961 through 1967.
This coming of age, fish out of water story is a journey to another world, yet a world that is in many ways just the same as our own. Politics, cultural differences and distances cannot change the fact that we all share the same common humanity and the same basic desire: to love and be loved.
The story of a young man's search for meaning and direction, AN AMERICAN IN CHINA follows recent college grad David Braddock (James Snyder) to China where he finds more than he bargained for. (James Snyder has landed the lead role in CRY BABY- made famous by Johnny Depp - CRYBABY follows John Waters’ previous smash Broadway play and movie HAIRSPRAY. CRYBABY opened on Broadway in March 2008.)
Twenty-two year old David is floundering - stuck in that lazy period between college and "what am I going to do with the rest of my life?" Even David's best friend, Sha (Anthony Montgomery) and his younger sister Kendra (Alice Greczyn) are concerned about his aimless attitude. (Alice Greczyn will be co-starring with James Marsden (X-MEN, THE NOTEBOOK, 27 DRESSES), in the upcoming film SEX DRIVE directed by Sean Anders.) David's parents (Michael Gross and Priscilla Barnes) pressure him to find a direction. They want him to go to China to source factories for the family's business, and David eventually does give into his father's urging to "go east young man."
Once in China, he finds that it is much different from what he imagined: full of bustling modern cities as well as idyllic little villages. But here, just like back at home, nobody seems to take him seriously. David travels to a place that the modern world hasn't yet altered and meets Mei Yang (Fei Fei Sun), a beautiful, ambitious young girl who works two jobs trying to save enough money so she can follow her dream of going to the prestigious Beijing University.
Despite their language and cultural differences, a romance blossoms during the few short weeks that David is there. He returns home to San Francisco changed by his China experience, but finds that his family's business is in more difficulty than when he left. Sha encourages David to go back and see things through: both business and romance, and together they head to the middle kingdom.
The producers want audiences to find AN AMERICAN IN CHINA an enjoyable journey, one that inspires them to follow the path of their own dreams, no matter where on this big, wide world those paths may lead.
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