Jia Zhangke Prepares Road Movie 'Mamma Dunhuang' Starring Zhao Tao

Jia Zhangke will begin location scouting and production design for his next film, the road movie "Mamma Dunhuang," once the 10th Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival wraps on Sept. 30.

As revealed by Variety, the film follows a woman who drives from Dunhuang, in western China near Central Asia, all the way to the sea. It is set to shoot in early winter.

"I really love western China, and I go to Dunhuang quite often. Dunhuang was a vital transit hub on the ancient Silk Road, keep going west and you can arrive in Rome. Yet, it is so far from the ocean," Jia tells Variety. "So this whole film is a continental story that starts in Dunhuang and travels from the west to the eastern coastline – she drives until the sea comes into view."

Zhao Tao, who won the David di Donatello Award for best actress for "Shun Li and the Poet," will once again lead a Jia film. She plays a homebound woman who uses AI to help her on the journey.

Jia draws a firm line between fiction and filmmaking. "I will not use AI in making 'Mamma Dunhuang,'" he says. "It only plays a role in the story."

A decade of Pingyao

Jia founded the Pingyao festival, which marks its 10th edition this year. He says that although it has only been a decade, "the changes in the broader film ecosystem and the media landscape, as well as technological advancements, are drastic. Pingyao has remained nimble. We've been able to adapt continuously alongside the shifts in the film industry and surrounding media, capturing new developments for our curation. Looking ahead, I believe cinema will continue to evolve rapidly, so we will maintain this festival's agility in the future. That very flexibility allows us to respond in real time to the most pressing cinematic and cultural topics on people's minds today."

Jia wants Pingyao to remain a haven for cinephiles rather than a hall of fame. Where most international festivals program hundreds of films, he intends to keep Pingyao's lineup lean, built around the year's newest boutique titles, so the spotlight falls on the selected films and helps them reach the market. This year's official program has just 51 films.

"As a festival, not only must it have great programs, but also a vibe of equality, freedom, and ease, setting a tone where the filmmakers and audiences can merge together," Jia says. "We put effort into bringing in films with great artistic value, and meanwhile cover as many countries and regions as possible, prioritizing regions less familiar to Chinese audiences, such as northeastern Europe and South America, hoping to introduce a broader spectrum of cinema to the Chinese audience."

Demand far exceeds the festival's capacity. Pingyao's online ticketing system logged more than 70 million visits this year.

Part of the problem, Jia says, is Pingyao's limited capacity, as the ancient city "is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage [Site]. We've been working on building one more theater, ideally inside the ancient city walls, with 300–500 seats to enlarge the capacity. But it is very difficult to realize this plan, we are still discussing."

Prudent inclusivity on AI

For its fifth edition, the festival partnered with visual artist Xu Bing on "AI-IF," a project that invited audiences to make films using AI. Jia says the festival's AI projects have all been exhibitions, and none of this year's official selections were made with AI.

"We've been prudent," Jia says. "But we maintain an open, observant, and inclusive stance toward AI. When it comes to technology advancement, each of us holds a different perspective, but there should be one fundamental attitude: we must understand and discuss it, not shy away from it. Pingyao upholds a spirit of prudent inclusivity." Earlier this year, Jia created an AI-generated video himself.

Distribution ambitions

Jia also co-founded Unknown Pleasures, a Chinese art-house distributor named after his 2002 film. He says the company is negotiating to acquire two Cannes titles. In June, it announced deals for Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Minotaur" and French cinematographer Marine Atlan's debut feature "La Gradiva."

"We hope Unknown Pleasures' acquired titles all have a great showcase in Pingyao," Jia says.

With "Mamma Dunhuang" set to shoot in early winter and two Cannes acquisitions in negotiation, Jia enters his second decade at Pingyao balancing filmmaking, curation and distribution on his own terms.