Synopsis

Shanghai’s Global Harbor shopping mall serves as the setting for two stories about the same group of people with alternative identities. In this expansive temple of consumerism, a filmmaker looking for inspiration becomes enamoured with a cosmetics salesperson, while an architecture graduate pondering her future becomes enamoured with a breakdancer. The camera documents the internal turmoil of the disaffected protagonists amidst the mesmerizingly mundane comings and goings of the mall. Zhang Jiajun’s experimental debut feature reveals a cross-section of Gen Z malaise, yearning, and urban alienation in contemporary Chinese society. Both versions of the film, which invert the order of the two halves, will be presented.

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
New Directors/New Films