My first encounter with Western culture was at Beijing World Park, where miniature versions of iconic global landmarks allowed me to explore the world without leaving home. Thirty years later, I discovered “Hannover China,” a replica built to celebrate the friendship between Hannover and Changde. As I watched local Chinese residents strolling the streets, with freshly painted European-style buildings in the background, I thought to myself: the future has arrived.

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I transformed Hannover into a dystopian park, amplifying cultural differences and alienation — to express a deep-seated fear inside me: in the wake of the pandemic, amid the rise of AI, escalating political tensions, and a fractured world, will isolation become the new norm? Will eerie, bizarre theme parks become the only way to experience the world? Will the future bear witness to the erosion of humanity itself?

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Shot on 16mm film, the movie aims to evoke a melancholic atmosphere, paying tribute to a past we can never return to.