Lockdown shorts

As well as appearing on the BC program here in Hong Kong, Jia has contributed to a project initiated by Greece's Thessaloniki Film Festival, which commissioned eight local directors and 14 from outside the country to produce three-minute shorts about their lockdown experiences. Jia shot his segment in black and white, over a day, on his cell phone.

The director — who also runs his own annual festival in the northern city of Pingyao — says he sees such initiatives as necessary, given current global conditions, but he also stresses these will be temporary.

"Because of this pandemic social distancing measures are in place but the whole industry relies on certain ways to disseminate new works to its audience," says Jia. "Going online is one solution and there could be some innovative ways to distribute these works but at the end of the day the core value of a film festival is the congregation.

"Gathering is the original intention of this art form. Film is about gathering hundreds of thousands of people together so that they share the same feelings. By doing that they share a kind of consciousness. That is very important. That's why film is a form of art that by nature brings people together. Online activities cannot replicate that."