Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke took the stage at the Venice Film Festival for a wide-ranging masterclass that spanned his career, his parallel work as a distributor, and his thoughts on the future of cinema in the age of AI.
Jia, who first attended Venice in 2000 with his second feature “Platform” and later won the Golden Lion in 2006 for “Still Life,” spoke candidly about his expanded role in the Chinese film industry beyond directing. In early 2025, he co-founded Unknown Pleasures Pictures with veteran distributor Tian Qi to bring international art films into the Chinese market.
“I have no knowledge or experience in distribution, but I’m also a film fan,” Jia said, explaining that the venture grew out of both passion and necessity. “China has more than 80,000 screens. We need more great films to fill them. To bring works from different cultures to Chinese audiences is very important, because cinema is a universal culture. We should not only focus on our own films but also share in the feelings of people from around the world.”
Jia pointed to the successful release of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria,” which became the film’s highest-grossing territory worldwide, as proof of a strong audience base in China for international cinema. Since then, Unknown Pleasures Pictures has distributed Paola Cortellesi’s Italian hit “There’s Still Tomorrow” and a 4K restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush,” which toured eight Chinese cities. “Since the 1980s, China hasn’t really screened silent films. For young audiences to see Chaplin again, 100 years after ‘The Gold Rush,’ was very meaningful,” Jia said.
The director also reflected on his role as founder of the Pingyao International Film Festival, now approaching its ninth edition. “Personal power is limited, but a festival is a platform,” Jia said. “It allows young directors to be seen by audiences, critics and the industry. Almost half of the films shown at Pingyao each year are later picked up for distribution in China.”
Turning to his own filmography, Jia retraced how each stage of his career was shaped by technological and social change. He noted that “Platform” was deeply personal, drawing on the experiences of his sister, but editing led him to recognize the larger forces of political and economic transformation at play in 1980s China. In “Still Life,” he incorporated surreal imagery — such as a building floating away like a spaceship — to capture the disorienting speed of the Three Gorges Dam project.
Jia also charted his embrace of digital filmmaking, beginning with shorts like “In Public” (2001) and “The Condition of Dogs” before moving fully into digital with “Unknown Pleasures” (2002) and “The World” (2004). “Every change in technology brings new opportunities,” he said. “With digital cameras, we could film more freely in real spaces, follow actors closely, and capture performances continuously in a way that was impossible with film.”
Most recently, Jia experimented with AI filmmaking, producing a five-minute short in collaboration with a Chinese company. “AI feels like playing chess at home, while shooting with a camera is like climbing a mountain outdoors,” he observed. “Different directors will choose different tools, but I’m still drawn to the camera and the real world.”
Asked about future plans, Jia revealed that after closing a cycle of long-span dramas with “Mountains May Depart” (2015), “Ash Is Purest White” (2018) and last year’s “Caught by the Tides,” he intends to return to the immediacy of contemporary life. “After ‘Caught by the Tides,’ I will go back to filming the present,” he said, adding that he hopes to begin shooting a new narrative feature this fall or winter. He is also working on a documentary about artist Cai Guo-Qiang, known for his pyrotechnic works, which will feature an AI-created counterpart named “AI Cai.”
Jia acknowledged the pressures on young filmmakers in China but urged persistence. “Sometimes I worry my fans think I do too much — distribution, festivals, platforms — but all of it is related to film,” he said. “When you see a possibility, don’t wait for someone else. Do it. Even small efforts can have an effect.”
Reflecting on moments of frustration, Jia said he finds motivation by returning to the work of directors he admires. “When I want to give up, I watch a film like ‘Roma’ and it reignites my passion,” he said. “Good films remind us why we do this.”
