Daybreak (1933 film)

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Daybreak (Chinese: 天明; pinyin: Tianming) is a 1933 Chinese silent film, directed by Sun Yu.^[1] It was released by the Lianhua Film Company (United Photoplay Studio). The film follows Lingling, a young country girl from a rural fishing village,  as she moves to the glittering city of Shanghai with her boyfriend Zhang. As Zhang drifts into revolutionary circles, Lingling falls into an unfortunate path. Sold to a corrupt boss who intoxicates and rapes her by her own sister, Lingling is forced into prostitution before eventually becoming a martyr for the oncoming revolution.

The film was stars Li Lili, one of the biggest silent film stars of the period. It was a star vehicle for Li Lili in the early stages of her career, and the seventh film of director Sun Yu, who was the best-known auteur of Shanghai cinema during the 1920s.

The film was also created in commemoration and celebration of the KMT Party's successful completion in the Northern Expedition. Director Sun Yu's films were intended for nationalist propaganda and presents a narrative of redemption as a soft film - the concept where cinema is created as a form of entertainment and a means of aesthetic presentation above all else. The narrative openness encourages and allows for cinematic audiences to develop their own political interpretations and, in this film, for 'left wing' or 'pro-CCP' messages to emerge from its mise en abyme.