Mao's Last Dancer is a 2009 Australian biographical film, directed by Bruce Beresford, based on ballet dancer Li Cunxin's autobiography Mao's Last Dancer. Li Cunxin is portrayed by Birmingham Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Chi Cao (simplified Chinese: 曹驰; traditional Chinese: 曹馳; pinyin: Cáo Chí), Australian Ballet dancer Chengwu Guo (Chinese: 郭承武; pinyin: Guō Chéngwǔ) and Huang Wen Bin. The film also stars Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen, Wang Shuangbao and Amanda Schull. The film premiered on 13 September 2009, at the Toronto International Film Festival. General release in Australia and New Zealand began on 1 October 2009. It began screening in the United States on 33 screens in August 2010. In the era of the Mao's Cultural Revolution, 11-year-old Chinese boy Li Cunxin resides in a rural village commune in Shandong Province, destined to labour in the fields. As often occurred in those times, government officials fanning out across the nation seeking young candidates for...