An Unfinished Film
一部未完成的电影
When director Xiaorui stumbles upon forgotten footage from an abandoned project, it sparks an obsessive quest to complete what was left unfinished a decade earlier. But as he reassembles his cast and crew in late 2019, reality intervenes with brutal force – the COVID-19 pandemic erupts, trapping them in a surreal limbo between artistic ambition and survival.
Lou Ye’s brilliant meta-narrative blurs the boundaries between fiction and documentary. Through his stand-in Mao Xiaorui and returning star Qin Hao, Lou crafts a Russian doll of realities – a film within a pandemic within a film. The production’s abrupt quarantine becomes an unintentional experiment in collective isolation, captured through restless camerawork that mirrors society’s growing unease.
Merging rediscovered scenes from Lou’s own Spring Fever (2009) with newly shot material, the film evolves into something far greater than its parts – a meditation on creative persistence when the world is falling apart. The layered narrative asks uncomfortable questions: Does filmmaking matter during catastrophe? Can art justify the human cost of its creation?
More than just a pandemic time capsule, An Unfinished Film becomes a triumph of cinematic alchemy. Lou transforms personal and national trauma into a profound statement about resilience, using the medium’s unique power to document while simultaneously transcending reality.
LOU YE
As one of the most important contemporary Chinese filmmakers, Lou Ye he made his first feature film Weekend Lover in 1994. His feature film included Don’t Be Young (1995), Suzhou River (1998), Purple Butterfly (2003), Summer Palace (2006), Spring Fever (2009, Best Screenplay Award at Cannes), Love and Bruises (2011), Mystery (2012, Asian Film Award for Best Film), Blind Massage (2014, Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at Berlinale), The Shadow Play (2018), Saturday Fiction (2019), and An Unfinished Film (2024).
Sun Apr 27, 2025 | 18:15
Stadtkino
Red Lotus 2025
Buy ticket
Singapore, Germany 2024
107 Min | Color | Chinese with English subtitles
Directed by LOU Ye
Screenplay LOU Ye, MA Yingli Cinematography ZENG Jian Editing TIAN Jiaming Sound FU Kang Production design ZHONG Cheng Costume design YANG Yang
With QIN Hao, MAO Xiaorui, QI Xi, HUANG Xuan, LIANG Ming, ZHANG Songwen, Youyou
World sales Coproduction Office
Distribution in Austria Alamode Filmdistribution / Polyfilm Verleih
An-Unfinished-Film