An Unfinished Film

In January 2020, a film crew reunites near Wuhan to resume the shooting of a film halted ten years earlier, only to share the unexpected challenges as cities are placed under lockdown.

• Qin Hao as Jiang Cheng
• Mao Xiaorui as Director Xiaorui
• Qi Xi as Sang Qi
• Huang Xuan as Ye Xiao
• Liang Ming as Ah-Jian
• Zhang Songwen as Tang
• Youyou as Paopao

The film combines outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage from Lou's previous films—Suzhou River (2000), Spring Fever (2009), Mystery (2012), and The Shadow Play (2018)—and original footage of a film crew playing versions of themselves. It was originally conceived as a film consisting of old footage of Qin Hao playing various roles, which Lou felt "reflected the changes in China over the past decade or so", but as the COVID-19 pandemic began, it became a film centred on filmmaking during the pandemic.^[7]

As of May 2024^[update], a separate film by Lou also consisting of footage from Spring Fever, Mystery, and The Shadow Play and new footage featuring Qin, Huang Xuan, Liang Ming, and Qi Xi was in production.^[8]

The film was nominated for the L'Œil d'or for best documentary at the 77th Cannes Film Festival,^[9] where it had its world premiere on 16 May 2024 in the Special Screenings section. It made its North American premiere at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival in the Centrepiece Programme.^[10] It was also selected for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 under the World Cinema section.^[11] It was released theatrically in France on 23 October 2024.^[12][13][14]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 76% of 21 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10.^[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[16]