Acclaimed Chinese film director Jia Zhangke’s short film The Hedonists will be screened at the 54th New York Film Festival, which takes place from September 30 to October 16.



The Film Society of Lincoln Center, one of the world’s most prominent film presentation organisations, announced its inclusion on their website on August 29.



The Hedonists forms part of the Shorts Program 2: International Auteurs programme that will highlight new short work from directors Nadav Lapid, Bertrand Bonello, Gabriel Abrantes and Jia Zhangke.





Already shortlisted by the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) and the Toronto International Film Festival, Jia Zhangke’s 25-minute dark comedy is set in his hometown of Fenyang, Shanxi Province in north China.



Commissioned by HKIFF, the eclectic and experimental story follows three unemployed coal miners as they search for work and aspires to focus on ordinary people in an ever-changing society.



“The Chinese title of the film (Yíng Shēng) is in my hometown dialect and refers to the ways in which people occupy themselves in life,” Jia Zhangke told HKIFF. “I have always liked this term as it contains the meaning of ‘running’, ‘working’ and ‘carrying on’.”



Founded in 1963, the New York Film Festival screens films based exclusively on their merits and is also non-competitive.



On October 14, the festival will also screen the special world premiere presentation of Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, which has been filmed using hyper-real high frame rates, report IndieWire.

