Lights, camera, action – student's film shortlisted for prestigious festival

"The Phantasmagoria of the Dropped Piece" has been shortlisted for the Walthamstow International Film Festival, the only Chinese work among the 99 selected pieces.

It was created by Luo Ruizhe, an undergraduate student majoring in Broadcasting and Television Directing at Shanghai Lida University.

After winning the "Best Experimental Film" award at the Boden International Film Festival, the three-minute short film has now garnered its fifth nomination for an international film festival.

Focusing on an ordinary worker named Han Lin, it tells the story of her accidentally entering a chess piece world controlled by her boss.

Within the surreal realm, she witnesses various puppet-like individuals manipulated as tools. Although she attempts to resist, she ultimately becomes another controlled pawn.

In the film, disparate elements such as factory machines, games consoles, and clocks are integrated into a surreal chessboard structure, creating a metaphorical space imbued with social critique.

Employing surreal techniques to portray the gambling between workers and capital, it demonstrates an avant-garde spirit that breaks with traditional creative thinking.

In March this year, the film advanced as a semi-finalist at the Robinson Film Awards, and subsequently won the "Best Experimental Film" award at the Boden International Film Festival, becoming the only student production to receive this honor.

In May, it was shortlisted for the Walthamstow International Film Festival and screened at the Trades Hall in Walthamstow. With its distinctive aesthetic style, its screenings have fostered the international dissemination of Chinese experimental films.

The success of the film underscores a significant advancement in the results-oriented educational philosophy embraced by the College of Media at Shanghai Lida University.

"When teaching focuses on students' creative output, it can ignite genuine artistic vitality," said Qi Yanhua, vice principal of Shanghai Lida University.