Jia Zhangke created the short film "The Visit" about the epidemic, which was shot with just one mobile phone in one day

This year's Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece has launched a short film shooting plan with the theme of "space" and the global COVID-19 pandemic as the background, focusing on quarantine life. The plan invites world-renowned directors to create short films. Each film is required to be about 3 minutes long and must be completed entirely in indoor spaces to fit the theme of quarantine.

Now, The New York Times has published the answers given by five top international directors including Jia Zhangke, and commented: "Visually speaking, Jia Zhangke's short film The Visit is the most sophisticated work, and he shot it in just one day and with a mobile phone."

Jia Zhangke's The Visit :

Jia Zhangke said on social media that he used a mobile phone and a computer to shoot the short film in one day, and his partners completed the post-production at home using the simplest software. The short film "The Visit" stars Lian Yirui from the Architecture Design Institute of Tsinghua University and Liang Jiayan, CEO of the Pingyao International Film Festival. Lian Yirui is also the architect of the Pingyao Film Palace.

In an interview with The New York Times, Jia Zhangke said, “The completion of this series of short films marks the victory of life. They show that no matter how difficult the situation is, the human mind can still breathe freely through film. In this critical moment, we need each other’s words and beliefs, and highlight our connection with each other through film.”

Jia Zhangke also recalled in the interview: "Before, directors in the world could be divided into two types: those who had experienced war and those who had not. Perhaps many years later, we can say that directors in the world can be divided into another two types: those who had experienced the COVID-19 epidemic and those who had not. This epidemic will definitely make us think for a long time and reshape our film culture."