Zhang Yimou, director of the film, declares that “One Second” is a tribute to cinema. It seems to be the new and Chinese version of "Cinema Paradiso".
Once the vision begins, it is impossible to stop looking at it. 104 minutes in Northern China during Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution. A melancholy setting and increasingly naïve characters. The protagonist is Zhang Jiusheng (Zhang Yi), sentenced to life imprisonment but with a very specific mission, to be a spectator of the regime's propaganda. It is the only chance he has to see his daughter for a second.
This film has already been presented at the San Sebastian, Toronto and Rome Festivals.