Chinese Drama ‘Take Off’ Set for U.S. Release Via Orchid Tree Media

Take Off , a Chinese drama about a factory worker who spends his life chasing the dream of building a flying machine, will open in U.S. theaters on Sept. 17, courtesy of specialty distributor Orchid Tree Media.

The fourth feature from Chinese director Pengfei, the film recently made its North American premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival in July. It stars rising actor Jiang Qiming — currently seen in the Chinese blockbuster Once Upon a Time in the Middle East , which is poised to become the country’s biggest hit of the summer — and is based on a novella by acclaimed Chinese author Shuang Xuetao. Related Stories Movies China's $300M Sleeper Hit 'Dear You' Unveils U.S. Trailer Ahead of September Release TV Gerhard Zeiler to Receive 2026 International Emmy Directorate Award

Set in the rust-belt cities of northeast China and spanning the 1970s to the present, the film follows Li Mingqi (Jiang), an ordinary laborer who inherits his late father’s impossible ambition — to build a homemade flying jetpack — but an early experiment goes wrong and leaves his brother-in-law disabled, shadowing the decades that follow. As the country opens up economically, Li and his wife (Li Xueqin) convert an abandoned factory into a dance hall and begin offering hot-air balloon rides to draw in tourists. But when his nephew falls gravely ill, Li straps on the homemade contraption one last time.