We don’t have a title. We don’t have a synopsis, location or cast news, but Jia Zhang-ke is moving into production this December on his next feature film — and unlike his more recent work which delved into the past, this will be set in the now. This further confirms what he mentioned at the masterclass he had at Venice.
Variety are in Pingyao at the moment for the Chinese filmmaker’s annual film festival and while he did not spill the beans he was quoted as saying that “for my next project, I’m going to this moment contemporary film” and “the world is changing, and China is changing particularly fast. So there will be some message regarding changes, but changes will not be the focus of storytelling.”
As we known, Jia Zhang-ke has been working on a martial arts film titled In the Qing Dynasty and set in Shanxi, but he was also working on a project about young people in China and same time last year he was aiming to film a roadtrip travelogue type film this follows a female character regional moving from a colder to warmer climate – so this makes sense in terms of a December start date. Mk2 has a track record of backing the filmmaker, so if production does indeed begin at the end of 2025, could a Venice Film Festival drop be in the cards (he won the Golden Lion there way back in 2006 for Still Life)? We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one. Update: Deadline further supports the logline above – “road movie without cars”, the as-yet-untitled film follows a journey from China’s northwest to the south of the enormous country.”
