Liu Xiang builds dream in documentary film

A documentary film featuring star hurdler Liu Xiang and chronicling Beijing's warm-up to the Olympics will open late next month, director Gu Yun said over the weekend.

"Dream-building 2008" ("Zhu Meng 2008") will premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival, one of Asia's largest, which starts on June 14.

The 90-minute film is slated for theater release on June 24, less than two months before the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

It took seven years to make the film, as the director tried to offer a panorama of a nation on track for the biggest sporting event on the planet.

Liu Xiang's success story is featured in one of the film's five independent stories. Other stories include the construction of the Bird's Nest, the main venue for the Beijing Olympics; everyday life of a local family; the training of three young gymnasts; and training of a security guard team.

"I'm very looking forward to my big-screen debut," Liu Xiang said in an interview with director Gu Yun on May 24 shortly after he won a gold medal at an Olympic test event in the Bird's Nest. "But I'm not acting there," he laughed, "It's really who I am when I'm in training."