In Public (2001)

Original title

公共场所

Directed by

Jia Zhangke

Genre

documentary film

Country

People's Republic of China

Runtime

30 min

Rating

6.1 of 10 from 14 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A short documentary shot on digital video in Datong, China. It watches people in public spaces like train stations and bus stops going about their daily lives.

observationalmundaneintimatecontemplativestarkminimalistearthyraw

What happens

In Public (simplified Chinese: 公共场所; traditional Chinese: 公共場所; pinyin: Gōng gōng cháng sǔo; lit. 'Public space') is a short documentary film directed by Jia Zhangke, a Chinese cinema "Sixth Generation" movement filmmaker. In Public was shot on digital video for the 2001 Jeonju International Film Festival. In many ways, the film was a test-run for the feature length fiction film Unknown Pleasures. Both films are shot digitally (a medium Jia would return to in Still Life (2006) and 24 City (2008)), both are set in the city of Datong, and both share the same shooting locations. As usual, Jia's regular collaborator Yu Lik-wai served as the film's director of photography. The film also screened at the 2002 Marseille Festival of Documentary Film, where it won the Grand Prix. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.