Never Walk Alone

Directed by Zhang Shitao

With Alimjian Tursunbek, Akbar Yahefu, Wei Na, Parman Parhat and Yu Rongguang

On the grasslands of Huocheng, Ili, Xinjiang, nine-year-old Uyghur boy Aire loves football deeply, but his father strictly bans him from playing. Twenty years ago, a match injury cut short the father’s football career, and he has regarded football as “a devil that destroys lives” ever since. When herding sheep, Aire sneaks in football practice and loses a sheep by accident. Finding out the village five-a-side football championship prize is a sheep, he plans to build a team, win the title and hide his fault. Aire puts together a multi-ethnic ragtag team and persuades retired coach Mijit to coach them. Unbeknownst to him, Mijit is the source of his father’s old grudge. In training and games, the kids learn trust, and old rifts between father and son, mentor and apprentice start to mend. Football finally shows them: in family ties, mentorship and companionship, we never walk alone.