Dragon Girls (Drachenmädchen) Trailer (2013)

Trailer for Dragon Girls.

School assemblies have rarely looked this dramatic - but then Shaolin Tagu Kung Fu School is not your average institution. It's located right next to the Shaolin Temple monastery, considered the birthplace of kung fu. There are more than 20,000 students - and these are no ordinary students; their ritual exercises resemble a scene from a Chinese historical epic.

Director and cinematographer Inigo Westmeier captures the early-morning routine in all its cinematic glory, before focusing on three pupils: nine year-old Xin Chenxi, and two teens, Chen Xi and Huang Luolan. The three girls struggle with the school's harsh routine: early rising, six-day weeks, no heating and most definitely no tears. Despite this, as Westmeier's film deftly reveals, becoming a martial arts champion is perhaps their only chance of escaping the poverty that has dogged their families.