A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007)

Director:

Wayne Wang

Writers:

Yiyun Li (novel) and
Yiyun Li (stories)
(more)

Release Date:

10 April 2008 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The book is a collection of stories about life in modern China and the United States.

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel | Number In Title

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Henry O	...	Mr. Shi
Pasha D. Lychnikoff	...	Boris
Feihong Yu	...	Yilan
Vida Ghahremani	...	Madam
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Megan Albertus	...	Forensics Girl
Wes Deitrick	...	Antique Owner
Angela Dierdorff Petro	...	Maggie
Brian Gibbons	...	elder Leach
Erick Hollenbaugh	...	elder Reilly
Richard Howard	...	Maintenance man
Armand Jalayeri	...	Guard
Liz Mathews	...	Business Woman
Chris Norton	...	Bus driver
Andrea Petty	...	Middle aged woman
Zinat Reich	...	Madam's friend
Ryan Sanson	...	Plane Passenger
Tracy Schornick	...	Troy
Trent Sweeney	...	Boy
Patrick Treadway	...	Homeless Man
Lonny W. Waddle	...	City Bus Passenger
Jared Wagner	...	Airport Greeter

Directed by
Wayne Wang

Writing credits
Yiyun Li		(novel)
Yiyun Li		stories
Michael Ray		script consultant

Produced by
Rich Cowan	....	producer
Lee Joo-Ick	....	executive producer
Yukie Kito	....	producer (as Yuki'e Kitô)
Yasushi Kotani	....	executive producer
Juan A. Mas	....	supervising producer
Taizo Son	....	executive producer
Wayne Wang	....	producer

Original Music by
Lesley Barber

Cinematography by
Patrick Lindenmaier

Film Editing by
Jason Mckee		(addtional editor)
Deirdre Slevin

Casting by
Nike Imoru
Todd M. Thaler

Production Design by
Vincent DeFelice

Set Decoration by
Dan Beyer

Costume Design by
Lisa Caryl-Vukas		(as Lisa Caryl)

Makeup Department
Trista Jordan	....	key makeup artist
Mike Meyers	....	hair stylist
Taci Van Leuven	....	assistant makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Rich Cowan	....	first assistant director
Lynn Wegenka	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Amber Grunte	....	set dresser
Pete Moroz	....	on-set dresser

Sound Department
Ryan Collison	....	foley engineer
Lewis Goldstein	....	sound re-recording mixer
Lewis Goldstein	....	supervising sound editor
Heather Gross	....	sound effects editor
Allen Lau	....	assistant sound editor
Cate Montana	....	adr editor
Jay Peck	....	foley artist
Jac Rubenstein	....	dialogue editor
Tom Taylor	....	sound mixer
Rusty Dunn	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bob Clifford	....	second assistant camera
Brianne Cronkhite	....	second assistant camera
Philipp Koller	....	first assistant camera
Jeremy Mackie	....	electrician
Dan Misner	....	dolly grip
Mike Vukas	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Philip Huffman	....	casting associate
Colin Johnson	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Rebecca Cook	....	set costumer
Hilary Winkworth	....	key set costumer

Editorial Department
Jason Mckee	....	assistant editor
Renannah Weinstein	....	assistant editor
Jason A. Payne	....	additional editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Deva Anderson	....	music supervisor
Lesley Barber	....	conductor
Lesley Barber	....	orchestrator
Jeff Wolpert	....	scoring mixer
Neil Parfitt	....	scoring music editor (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Philip Allister Anderson	....	picture car coordinator
Adam C. Boyd	....	driver: cast
Bart Heimburger	....	transportation coordinator
John Petty	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Craig Binkley	....	location manager
Adam C. Boyd	....	production assistant
Cheryl Cowan	....	script supervisor
Thomas Dineen	....	assistant production coordinator
Mollie Mraz	....	production assistant
Gretchen Oyster	....	key set production assistant
Travis Pell	....	production assistant
Frederic Perrin	....	caterer
Luke Swain	....	production assistant
Kurt Wetherill	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Boram Entertainment (uncredited)
• Entertainment Farm (EF)
• North by Northwest Entertainment

Distributors

• EDKO Film (2009) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Golden Village Entertainment (2008) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Magnolia Pictures (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Mikado (2007) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Pandora Filmproduktion (2007) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Primer Plano Film Group (2009) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Tokyo Theaters Company (2010) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Imovision (2008) (Brazil) (all media)
• Imovision (2009) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2009) (Argentina) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Creative Artists Agency (CAA)  domestic sales
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Post Factory NY  post-production facilities

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Germany:83 min | Canada:83 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:83 min | Argentina:83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin | Persian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:PG | Hong Kong:I | Germany:o.Al. | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | USA:Unrated | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, USA

Company:

Boram Entertainment

Quotes:

Mr. Shi:[tries to explain] Communist no bad.
[sentence in Chinese]
Mr. Shi:Communist in bad hand.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Teen Wolf: The Tell (#1.5)" (2011)

Soundtrack:

Katioucha

An amazing journey, exploring human relationships and communications

It is so refreshing to see a director (Wayne Wang) so courageously has his audience go through watching and listening to conversations in mixed dialogues exploring the "human relationships and communications" that goes beyond common language! There is an understanding that masterfully is being established during the movie with the audience, interestingly enough, the old man (Henry O) fails to establish this with his daughter, but it is being established with the audience, "with subtitles at times." Then the climax, the scenes/conversations in the park between an Iranian old woman (Vida Ghahremani) and the Chinese old man (Henry O) in mixed languages, Mandarin, Farsi, and English, "with No sub titles!" which the audience has no problem understanding it and it is fluent, enticing and absolutely delightful. This is an amazingly smart and fascinating movie with masterful acting, specially the old couple, the Iranian old woman (Vida Ghahremani) and the Chinese old man (Henry O). Warning: if you are looking for an Action or Kong Fu movie, this may not be your top choice.