Intro:A film that changed and deeply influenced her. The first film she completed and directed — and one she is truly proud of. In her work, Zhang Aixin brings together beauty, faith, and love, while her unique vision of the world invites us to look differently at the ordinary things we often pass by each day without a second thought.
Zhang Aixin is a scholar, writer, and cross-disciplinary filmmaker who holds a doctoral degree from Shanghai Theatre Academy. Her academic background unites fine arts, scholarly research, philosophy of art, and religious studies.

A Unique Way of Seeing the World
Her path to filmmaking grew out of a deeply sensitive and distinctive way of perceiving life. She is a creator with hearing impairment, and this has profoundly shaped her artistic voice. As the director explains:
“I tend to observe life through sensitivity, silence, images, and emotion. My filmmaking grows out of this very special perspective.”
This perspective is also present in the themes she explores: people, beauty, suffering, and faith. These became, in her words, “the emotional core from which everything else grew.”

Faith as an Inner and Visual World
Zhang Aixin believes that conviction and faith are among the most precious, yet also the most fragile, things in the world. Her deep spiritual sensibility became the impulse behind the film, as a reflection of the inner world she carries within herself.
At the same time, religion in her work appears not only as a personal experience, but also through images — symbolic, layered, and emotionally rich. Through cinema, she hopes to explore goodness in human nature, the beauty of the world, and spiritual hope:
“Through film, I hope to explore the good side of human nature, the beauty of the world, and the deepest spiritual hope found in religious experience.”

Between Scholarship and Art
The director found her central character in religious texts and academic writings — figures that live within theological works. Thanks to her own field of study, she was able to immerse herself deeply in the subject.
As Zhang Aixin notes:
“I often carry multiple roles at the same time — researcher, director, screenwriter, and visual designer.”
This film clearly reflects a union of knowledge, research, and personal vision.

Collaboration and the Courage to Create
An important role in the making of the film was also played by her academic supervisor. Together, they developed and refined the screenplay. As the director recalls:
“I felt that even though neither of us is a film professional, that does not stop us from making a cross-disciplinary attempt. We might face failure. But love and passion will overcome everything.”
In these words, one can sense the guiding principle of her creative journey: the courage to move forward despite doubt, and to step beyond conventional boundaries.

AI as a Creative Partner
In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, Zhang Aixin sees it not as a replacement for human thought, but as a tool that expands creative possibilities:
“AI also became an important creative partner for me in this process. I do not use AI to replace thinking. I use it to expand the possibilities of expression and to bring my ideas closer to the screen.”
According to the director, many ideas born from this creative dialogue found their way into the final version of the film.


Mystery, the Spirit World, and Love
In three words, she describes her film as: “Mystery, the spirit world, and love.” It is a formula where search, the unseen, and human feeling meet.
And perhaps this is where the central meaning of her cinema lies. As she says:
“Film is not only an art form — it is also a way of witnessing what is real, what is kind, and what is the light inside us.”
For everyone, there is a personal path toward understanding that mystery — and one of them is cinema.