Peter Chan's sports film, "Leap," has been selected by the Chinese authorities to compete at the Academy Awards 2021 in the best international feature film category.

The film shines a spotlight on the China women's national volleyball team. Depicting the struggles of several generations of the Chinese team in their attempts to achieve national glory, the film spans a period of 35 years from 1981 to 2016. 

The leading role in the film, that of Lang Ping, is played by her daughter Lydia Lang Bai (as young Lang Ping) and celebrated actress Gong Li. Known as the "Iron Hammer" for her powerful spikes when she was a player, Lang is now the head coach of the China women's national volleyball team. Lang is the first person in the sport to win Olympic gold medal as both a player (1984) and as a coach (2016). She also headed the U.S. women's team from 2005-2008, leading them to a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Last Saturday, in Xiamen, Fujian province, "Leap" received three trophies and so became the biggest winner at the 33rd edition of Golden Rooster. The movie was originally slated for release in Chinese theaters on Jan. 24, Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve, but the sudden COVID-19 outbreak forced movie theaters nationwide to close their doors for months. It debuted just ahead of the busy National Day holiday on Sept. 25 and went on to gross 835 million yuan ($127.25 million).

The producer of "Leap," Jojo Hui, has a rare chance of twin Oscars. Her Hong Kong production, "Better Days," was announced last Friday as China's Hong Kong region's Oscar contender. The Taiwan region selected Chung Mong-hong's dark family drama, "A Sun," as its Oscar contender for 2021 back in late September.

"Leap" will compete with Nigeria's "The Milkmaid," France's "Two Of Us," Egypt's "When We're Born," Sudan's "You Will Die At Twenty," Argentina's "The Sleepwalkers," Brazil's "Babenco: Tell Me When I Die," Peru's "Song Without A Name," Mexico's "I'm No Longer Here," Japan's "True Mothers," Singapore's "Wet Season," Germany's "And Tomorrow The Entire World," Russia's "Dear Comrades!," Iran's "Sun Children," South Korea's "The Man Standing Next," and many more.

Oscar's best international feature film category was formerly known as Best Foreign Language Film. China has been submitting films to Oscar since 1979. But the only Chinese win to date in this Oscar award category was "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" by director Ang Lee in 2001. 

But the Chinese film industry has kept on trying, and people are always curious about the titles of China's annual Oscar selections to show the country's positive image and messages to the world. The selection itself will also make the filmmakers and crews feel honored.

To qualify, a film must have been released in its respective country between Oct. 1, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2020. The shortlist of 10 will be unveiled on Feb. 9, 2021.

The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021, when the awards will be made. It was originally to be held on Feb. 28, but then the ceremony and the eligibility period were postponed and extended by two months each due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Another virus-induced change to the eligibility rules is that films that had a previously planned theatrical release but are or were initially made available through a commercial SVoD service may now qualify for consideration. Previously the rules stipulated that an initial release in theaters was compulsory.

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