Editing Not One Less (section)

{{short description|1999 film by Zhang Yimou}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox film
 | name               = Not One Less
 | image              = Not One Less.jpg
 | alt                = Film poster divided into three panels. The first depicts a serious-looking young Chinese woman with braided hair; she is standing, surrounded by blurred faces. The second panel shows a group of laughing children, all looking forward. The third panel shows a seated laughing boy, surrounded by the words, Not One Less. Other writing on the cover says, "From Zhang Yimou, award-winning director of Raise the Red Lantern", and the tagline "In her village, she was the teacher. In the city, she discovered how much she had to learn."
 | caption            = US theatrical release poster
 | native_name = {{Infobox Chinese/Chinese|child=yes|hide=no|header=none| s         = 一个都不能少
  | t        = 一個都不能少
  | p             = Yīgè dōu bùnéng shǎo}}
 | writer             = [[Shi Xiangsheng]]
 | producer           = Zhang Yimou
 | studio             = [[Columbia Pictures|Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia]] <br> Guangxi Film <br> Beijing New Picture
 | distributor        = [[Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International]]
 | released           = {{Film date|df=yes|1999|09|07|[[Venice Film Festival|Venice]]|2000|01|14|Mexico|2000|02|18|United States}}
 | starring           = Wei Minzhi <br />Zhang Huike
 | director           = [[Zhang Yimou]]
 | music              = San Bao
 | cinematography     = [[Hou Yong (cinematographer)|Hou Yong]]
 | editing            = Zhai Ru
 | runtime            = 106 minutes
 | language           = Mandarin
 | country            = China
 | budget             =
}}
[[File:ZhangYimou-Hawaii.JPG|thumb|Director [[Zhang Yimou]]|alt=A middle-aged Chinese man standing at a podium, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and lei]]
'''''Not One Less''''' is a 1999 [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] by Chinese director [[Zhang Yimou]], adapted from [[Shi Xiangsheng]]'s 1997 story ''A Sun in the Sky'' ({{zh|c=天上有个太阳|p=''tiān shàng yǒu ge tàiyáng''|links=no}}).<ref name="Zhang136" /><ref name="KwokMcKnight102">{{Harvnb|Kwok|McKnight|2002|p=102}}.</ref> It was produced by Guangxi Film Studio and released by [[China Film Group Corporation]] in [[mainland China]], and distributed by [[Sony Pictures Classics]] in North America and [[Columbia TriStar Film Distributors]] internationally.

Set in the [[People's Republic of China]] during the 1990s, the film centers on a 13-year-old substitute teacher, Wei Minzhi, in the [[Rural society in China|Chinese countryside]]. Called in to substitute for a village teacher for one month, Wei is told not to lose any students. When one of the boys takes off in search of work in the big city, she goes looking for him. The film addresses [[Education in the People's Republic of China#Development|education reform in China]], the economic gap between urban and rural populations, and the prevalence of bureaucracy and authority figures in everyday life. It is filmed in a [[Neorealism (art)|neorealist]]/[[documentary film|documentary]] style with a troupe of non-professional actors who play characters with the same names and occupations as the actors have in real life, blurring the boundaries between drama and reality.

The domestic release of ''Not One Less'' was accompanied by a Chinese government campaign aimed at promoting the film and cracking down on [[Copyright infringement|piracy]]. Internationally, the film was generally well-received, but it also attracted criticism for its ostensibly political message; foreign critics are divided on whether the film should be read as praising or criticizing the Chinese government. When the film was excluded from the [[1999&nbsp;Cannes Film Festival]]'s competition section, Zhang withdrew it and another film from the festival, and published a letter rebuking Cannes for politicization of and "discrimination" against Chinese cinema. The film went on to win the [[Venice Film Festival]]'s [[Golden Lion]] and several other awards, and Zhang won the award for best director at the [[Golden Rooster Awards]].