Pure Hearts: Into Chinese Showbiz

Pure Hearts: Into Chinese Showbiz, often shortened to Pure Hearts (纯洁心灵), is a 2017 Chinese film directed and produced by Bi Zhifei. The plot focuses on a teacher at an acting school trying to make a movie with his students and the difficulties that result from the dark side of the film industry and their personal struggles during production. Due to its troubled production, which involved accusations of overworking and mistreatment by Bi and claims that it took 12 years to make, and low ratings of the film itself after release despite praise by industry and government figures beforehand, it has been considered one of the worst Chinese films ever made, being panned for its acting, screenplay, direction, narrative structure, characters, themes, editing, and its theme song. In response, Bi accused Douban of discrimination against domestic films and even submitted the film to the Cannes Film Festival.

Plot
An acting teacher and his students face various challenges in their career and personal lives.

Production
Bi Zhifei rose money for the film through crowdfunding as well as funding from his father-in-law and friends. During filming, he exercised complete creative control and took on many roles, leading to conflicts with crew members over working conditions and the film's direction. SNH48 was signed on to produce a song and music video for the film at a cost of CN¥2.8 million; however, he wanted the group Sunshine (Chinese band) to record another version after noticing their internet fame, causing SNH48's agency to protest.