13.03.24, 20:30, The Pluto Moment (2018)

Saturated by the Chinese film industry, which relies mostly on international co-productions and who-knows-who, director Wang Zhun heads into the mountains in this film about film. With hopes of inspiration, Zhun embarks on an unpredictable trek through China's remote Shennongjia mountains in southwest China, together with a small crew. However, it is not long before the group gets lost and leaves the beaten track emotionally as well. Instead of reaching enlightenment and universal truth, the group of townspeople mainly discovers how overburdened they are by the world.

Zhang Ming loosely based the film on his own quest through the wilderness when he was trying to make a documentary about spiritual chants. Based on longtakes through the wilderness, The Pluto Moment is a quest for spirituality that depicts modern alienation in Antonioni-like fashion. Unlike other meta-films, this film has deceptively simple characters and wry, ironic commentary on the unpredictable nature of film production.