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Chinese director Lou Ye's ambitious docufiction is a radical and beguiling response to a world suspended in time by the outbreak of Covid-19.
It’s January 2020 and a film crew gather at a hotel near Wuhan to resume shooting a film they had abandoned 10 years before. They begin to shoot an ending set a decade on, but rumours of a virus are spreading, and it’s not long before a brutal lockdown isolates each of them, and communication is reduced to phone screens and video calls.
Lou’s visionary film – in which many crew members play versions of themselves alongside professional actors – is layered with real mobile phone and CCTV footage, as well as outtakes from his previous films, including Suzhou River (2000), Spring Fever (2009), Mystery (2012) and The Shadow Play (2018). Playing with layers of construction and reality, Lou creates an enthralling and cathartic reflection on creative endeavour, fragility and community.
Screenings of An Unfinished Film include a recorded introduction by Yixiang Lin, Co-founder & Lead Curator of Mint Chinese Film Festival.