Based on the book by Lisa See.

DVD release of the 2011 motion picture.

Special features: The sworn sisterhood of the secret fan.

Screenplay by Angela Workman and Ron Bass and Michael K. Ray ; music, Rachel Portman ; editor, Deirdre Slevin ; director of photography, Richard Wong ; production & costume designer, Man Lim Chung.

Gianna Jun, Li Bing Bing, Vivian Wu, Jiang Wu, Russell Wong, Coco Chiang, Jingyun Hu, Archie Kao.

Inspired by the bestselling novel SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN by Lisa See, the film is a timeless portrait of female friendship. In 19th-century China, seven year old girls Snow Flower and Lily are matched as laotong - or "old sames" - bound together for eternity. Isolated by their families, they furtively communicate by taking turns writing in a secret language, nu shu, between the folds of a white silk fan. In a parallel story in present day Shanghai, the laotong's descendants, Nina and Sophia, struggle to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship in the face of demanding careers, complicated love lives, and a relentlessly evolving Shanghai. Drawing on the lessons of the past, the two modern women must understand the story of their ancestral connection, hidden from them in the folds of the antique white silk fan, or risk losing one another forever. What unfolds are two stories, generations apart, but everlasting in their universal notion of love, hope and friendship.

Rating: PG-13.

DVD ; widescreen (2.35:1) presentation ; Dolby digital 5.1 surround.

In Mandarin and English, with optional subtitles in English, French or Spanish. Closed-captioned. Optional descriptive audio in English for the visually impaired.