One Second
Nostalgic drama by Zhang Yimou (Hero) about an escaped prisoner who, during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, goes in search of a film reel that is particularly valuable to him.
China’s Zhang Yimou is a giant of international cinema. His many films, including RAISE THE RED LANTERN, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and SHADOW have cemented his place in history. With ONE SECOND, he offers a powerful reminder of why film matters.
Towards the end of the Cultural Revolution, when movies were one of the few cultural experiences available to China’s masses, the film’s nameless hero is sent to a remote labour camp for taking part in a fight. He escapes, but instead of returning to crime, his one aim is to see a screening of a newsreel where his daughter has been captured briefly on screen, immortalized as a model student and worker.
ONE SECOND marks Zhang’s return to the classic, grand storytelling of his early films. He draws on the specific customs of moviegoing from China in the 1970s to craft an enduring, universal celebration of the transformative power of film.