Playing a girl in the morning and a mother in the afternoon, Xu Yueqing talks about her experience in filming - Blooming Against the Light -

In the post-screening exchange of "Backlight Blooming" held in Xiamen, Xu Yueqing talked about a kind of switching in performance: in the morning, she was still playing a girl, and in the afternoon she would become a single mother.The character she plays, Zhang Chunxia, ​​goes from young to middle-aged, and the film adopts a jump-shooting method. The emotions of different ages and life stages are often completed on the same day.

The film was shortlisted for the 2026 Golden Rooster Domestic Film Festival, and a special viewing event was held in Xiamen recently.Director and screenwriter Zhang Pu, chief producer Ma Jingjing and lead star Xu Yueqing were present to share with the audience the story and filming experience of this female reality-themed work.

Zhang Chunxia was trapped in her native family when she was young, and experienced emotional twists and marital trauma as an adult.After her marriage broke up, she ran a small shop and raised her daughter alone, and had to face the prejudice and comments of people around her.The story uses the difficulties in daily life to describe her transformation: a confused and timid girl gradually grows into a middle-aged woman who can live independently and regains her dignity.

Zhang Pu said that there are many such women around him. They are bound by traditional concepts and their lives are broken, but they still grit their teeth and live on.He hopes to record this power that belongs to ordinary people.His explanation for the title of the film is: “ Backlight represents being in a difficult situation and unable to see the way forward clearly, but one must still move forward bravely; blooming represents spiritual self-reliance.” He also said that many people live a life defined by others, and he hopes that everyone can hold their destiny in their own hands.

The shooting spanned three seasons: summer, autumn and winter.Xu Yueqing said that she liked Chunxia's bravery and tenacity the most, but she had not personally experienced many of the character's experiences.

She especially remembers a long shot of the beans being pressed.She is not good at housework, so Zhang Pu, who is familiar with rural life in the north, guided and coordinated the scene step by step, helping her connect the actions with the character's life.

Ma Jingjing introduced that more than 90% of the scenes in the film were built from scratch by the crew: the team rented vacant rooms, and then the art department restored the corresponding era style. Many old objects with the mark of the times were searched and collected by the staff from various places.The production team implemented the shooting tasks one by one every day, and continued to communicate with the director to polish the details.

In the post-screening exchange, some viewers said that the experiences in the film were close to daily life and also touched on the familiar dilemmas faced by women growing up.

《Backlight Blooming》 directed and written by Zhang Pu, with Ma Jingjing as the chief producer, starring Xu Yueqing, Wang Chengyang, and Wang Gongliang, and starring Tian Sen, Heimei, Wei Chunguang, Zhang Chong, Chen Wanghanfei, Wu Zhaolin, and Baduo.