One Day When We Were Young (2021): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2021, One Day When We Were Young is a documentary film directed by Bei Xu, running about 110 minutes.

What it’s about. After the outbreak of the war with Japan, all Beijing universities were closed or bombed. A group of young students, aged 18 or 19, set off in a hurry, moving south on foot, crossing Xiangqian and Yunnan, and eventually forming a temporary university on the Kunming plateau - the Southwest Union University, a joint venture between Tsinghua, Peking University and Nankai. They crossed a city to listen to the "best Chinese language class ever", to listen to Toselli's "Serenade", and to join the Flying Tigers. For these "post-90s" seniors, who are now in their nineties, SWU is not a dusty piece of history, but a memory of youth that is still as fresh as ever. Yang Zhenning, Xu Yuanchong, Pan Jiluan, Yang Coix, Wang Xiji and Ma Zhitu - 16 students of the University with an average age of over 96 years old are cast together to take you back to a time when war was raging and stars were shining.

Who’s in it. One Day When We Were Young stars Yang Chenning and Xu Yuanchong.

How it landed. With an audience score of 8.2/10, One Day When We Were Young sits among the best-reviewed titles in the catalogue.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch One Day When We Were Young page.

If you liked it. Fans of One Day When We Were Young tend to enjoy One Direction: This Is Us, Burn the Stage: The Movie, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself - Japan Edition and Senna.