Arthouse hero's 20-year opus gets release

Jia was born in 1970 and living his formative years during China's dynamic period of the reform and opening-up. To many people like him, the beginning of the 21st century was a time filled with beauty and hope. The year 2000 marked a milestone in China's long-standing goal of the Four Modernizations — agriculture, industry, defense, science and technology.

Recalling how he grew up learning about these goals, Jia says that he and his peers were once filled with expectations for the new millennium. They were even more excited to witness the unprecedented transition from traditional society to the internet era as the new century began.

For the director, the digital camera also allowed him to shake off the limitations of the film industry, which traditionally requires a big crew and scheduled collaboration, to create in an improvisational way.

"I'm particularly fascinated by the free form of filmmaking, as it can result in vibrant movies, full of life," Jia says.

After intermittently filming for nearly 20 years, his team had amassed over 1,000 hours of footage but had yet to decide on a conclusion. This indecision persisted until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which abruptly halted the director's busy life. He had previously spent about a third of the year traveling overseas to international events, but now his routine underwent a significant change and he began to commute between office and home every day, like many others in Beijing.