HOUSTON -- A new movie features a Chinese dancer's fight to stay in the U.S., after finding love in the Bayou City.
Li Cunxin, a Chinese ballet dancer who traveled to Houston in the 80s, defied Chinese authorities and decided to stay after falling in love.
It kind of sounds like a plot from a Hollywood movie, and now it is -- based on a best-selling autobiography.
“When they took me from my family I did not recognize this as honor,” said Cunxin.
Cunxin was just 11 when he was swept up in China's Cultural Revolution and sent to study ballet. It was a grueling discipline that led him to stardom and to be China's first cultural exchange artist with America in 1979.
But Cunxin liked Houston so much, he wanted to stay.
In the movie, actor Kyle MacLachlan plays Houston immigration attorney Charles Foster.
Foster was with Cunxin when the Chinese held him hostage in their consulate on Montrose. For 21 hours there was a major international standoff. U.S. federal agents showed up, until Foster, calling on all kinds of contacts, got Cunxin released.
“That was the most dangerous thing I did all evening, waking up a federal judge in the middle of the night,” Foster said.
FosterQuan is the world's second-largest immigration law firm and represents China's current highest-profile export: Yao Ming.
Cunxin now lives in Australia, and he and Foster remain friends -- as do the Chinese and Americans.
