Horizons / Han ye deng zhu / China 2026
The near future. Winter. A run-down movie studio that has long not seen any stars – unlike the rockets with which tourists can now fly into space. And in the middle of it all is the lonely janitor Zha, who occasionally finds company in the form of a cat or the VR goggles that his boss gave him in lieu of his wages. With his goggles, Zha escapes into a world that is somehow more real and more comprehensible – a world where you can plan a trip to the Moon with a beautiful girl. This inventive animated film, shown in the Perspectives section at this year’s Berlinale, uses absurd humor and a pervasive sense of melancholy to depict the Little Man’s dream of light pillars – so beautiful, and yet so unattainable.
Natalia Kozáková
90 min / Color, DCP
Director Xu Zao
/ Screenplay Xu Zao
/ Dir. of Photography Hao Jiayue
/ Music Chen Xiaoshu
/ Sound He Wei
/ Editor Yang Chao, Xu Zao
/ Art Director Xu Zao
/ Producer Lu Xiaowei
/ Production Fengduan Pictures
/ Coproduction La Fonte
/ Cast Da Peng, Qing Yi
/ Sales Cercamon
Xu Zao. Filmography: No Changes Have Taken in Our Life (Hai Nei Yang, 2023, short), Light Pillar (Han ye deng zhu, 2026).
Cercamon
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