Iron Hands (铁手)

As a 12-year-old girl prepares for her final test trying out for the traditionally all-boys Chinese youth Olympic weightlifting team, she makes an unlikely connection with the gym's reclusive groundskeeper.

Directors Notes: directorsnotes.com/2020/04/20/johnson-cheng-iron-hands/

16th Tribeca Film Festival *World Premiere*
21st TIFF Kids International Film Festival *Canadian Premiere*
23rd Palm Springs International Short Film Festival *Best Student Live Action Short Film Award*
14th Reykjavík International Film Festival *Golden Egg Selection*
49th Nashville Film Festival
28th Cinequest Film & VR Festival
20th Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia
13th Traverse City Film Festival
27th Florida Film Festival
26th Heartland Film Festival
48th Giffoni Film Festival
15th Bogota Short Film Festival
34th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
36th CAAMFest *InspirASIAN Student Film Award*
35th Chicago International Children’s Film Festival
21st New York International Children’s Film Festival
36th Uppsala International Short Film Festival
21st Los Angeles International Short Film Festival
12th Show Me Shorts Film Festival
15th In The Palace International Short Film Festival
+ More!

Written & Directed by
Johnson Cheng

Produced by
Tianqi Zhuo

Executive Producer
Felicity Wang

Co-Producer
Xixi Wang

Director of Photography
Shipei Wen

Film Editor
Johnson Cheng

Production Designer
Mengna Jiang

Original Score by
Zeke Khaseli
Yudhi Arfani

Starring

Weightlifter Girl
Zixuan Liu

Groundskeeper
Xing Lian

Coach
Tao Wei

Weightlifter Boys
Jianbin Huang
Dunhua Kang
Jiaming Wang
Aonan Wu
Zhaoshun Xie

Crew

First Assistant Director
Tianqi Zhuo

Casting Director
Ming Yi

Associate Producer
Yachi Yang

Sound Recordists
Jingxi Guo
Shanying Wang

Gaffers
Tiange Bei
Hao Wei

1st Assistant Camera
Dongsheng Zhang

2nd Assistant Camera
Zhenjie Yan

Colorists
Markus Englmair
Mikki Crisostomo

Sound Editor | Re-recording Mixer
William Hsieh

Graphic Designers
Maggie Briggs
James Lien

Title Design by
Yudho Aditya

Production Assistant
Chenxi Li

Driver
Zhujun Sun

Filmed on location in Beijing, China

Produced in partial fulfillment of the MFA degree in Film at Columbia University School of the Arts.

Johnson Cheng | johnsoncheng.com