Promotional materials for In Search of Lost Time Photo: Courtesy of Douban

'In Search of Lost Time': 3,000 orphans taken in by Inner Mongolian families

Based on the true story of 3,000 orphans and their Inner Mongolian foster parents, the movie In Search of Lost Time is about to grab audience's hearts on Friday. 

At the premiere on Sunday in Beijing, the movie's chief producer Yu Dong talked about the significance of the story. 

"The movie talks about the joys and sorrows of those families. During the 1950s, families from Inner Mongolia opened up their arms to accept a massive amount of orphans. It is also a good story about people in a nation helping each other," commented Yu.

During the 1950s, severe natural disasters that occurred in the southern part of China left behind huge numbers of orphaned children. 

Learning about the situation of these children, the local government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region decided to take in these orphans and find them new homes. 

The government implemented this project with the slogan: "Take as many children as you can and help them survive to become as strong as they can be." Nearly 3,000 orphans found shelter in the region and were adopted by new Mongolian parents. 

Similar TV and movie adaptations of the story have been made over the past decades by many other directors. 

To stand apart, the production team decided to present this special moment in history from another perspective. 

"This was an extremely hard movie to make," Hong Kong director Derek Yee said at the premiere.

Mongolian singer Ayanga will feature in movie as a parent of one of these families in Inner Mongolia.

Global Times