xíng zhou
indie filmmaker
writer / director / producer
Beijing, China
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Toronto, ON, Canada
Chicago, IL, United States
explore xíng zhou’s Magnum Opus
QU MO SI KE HAI
(TO MARE MOSCOVIENSE)
Synopsis: Set in the late 1980s in a chinese rural town, a mother and son’s relationship is defined by silence and a mutual inability to reach out to each other. On one sweltering summer afternoon, a transformative encounter with cinema sets the son on a surreal journey that leads him to a rare moment of shared empathy with his mother.
Inspiration: the film is inspired by Xíng Zhou's deep reflection on his own upbringing, especially his childhood and early relationships, which delves into the trials and tribulations. It’s a meditation on the passage of time and how our younger selves continue to shape who we become, exploring themes of growth, loss, and reconciliation with self.
Premiere: TO MARE MOSCOVIENSE will officially premiere in 2026, marking another significant creation in Xíng Zhou’s independent filmography.
filmography
Drama / Arthouse
Co-Writer / Director
Toronto, ON, Canada
Drama / Experimental
Writer / Director
Hebei & Beijing, China
Drama / Arthouse
Co-Writer / Director / Director of Photography
Toronto, ON, Canada
experimental
Experimental
Director
Vancouver, BC, Canada
xíng zhou’s next step
Xíng Zhou is preparing for his fourth short film, a thesis film at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
This film departs from a personal encounter and enters a world where memory, identity, and perception fracture and overlap. Inspired by a recent reunion with his estranged father, he explores not confrontation, but re-interpretation. When a person no longer sees others through their own eyes, what can they possibly see?
The film is scheduled to be shot in the Summer / Winter of 2026.
FU QIN XIANG WAN
(FALLING BIRDS AT DUSK)
concept (created by AI)
in the near future…
Xíng Zhou will begin the journey toward his first FEATURE film, planned to be completed before 2030. The project will build on the world of FU QIN XIANG WAN (Falling Birds at Dusk), expanding its dreamlike architecture into a larger exploration of memory, science, and human emotion.
If the short film was a fragment, a dream captured in the instant before waking, the feature will become the echo that follows, where time folds and human tenderness confronts the machinery of consciousness.
The film will continue to trace the intersection between the seen and the felt, between the act of recording and the desire to remember, revealing how images both preserve and distort what we call “truth.”
Currently in early development, the project is seeking like-minded producers and collaborators to bring this vision to life.
concept (created by AI)