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Hairpin

"All things have a destiny."
A girl stumbles upon a hairpin at an accessory stall, through which she remembers a story of her past life with another girl.

The Hairpin is a short narrative film produced by moving image students at the University of Sydney. In the modern world Wan Er stumbles upon an accessory stall and following a sudden voice in her head, she arrives at the stall and is drawn to a phoenix hairpin. The moment Wan Er picks up the hairpin with the owner's permission, a memory from ancient times gradually emerges. Wan Er, dressed in an ancient costume, is walking in the desert, surrounded by another woman, also dressed in an ancient costume. They quarrel over the woman's decision to join the army instead of her father without informing Wan Er. When the woman's departure is final, she gives Wan Er her hand-made hairpin, hoping that she will not forget herself and will wait for her return from her victory. The ancient Wan Er was so moved that she decided to meet the woman on her last night before she left and prayed for her according to the local custom of lighting the sky lantern. But the woman did not come back to Wan Er in the end. When she returns to the modern world, Wan Er decides to look for that woman in the modern world...

As a dialogue editing exercise, Hairpin does not focus on completing the dialogue in a single scene, but rather tells a complete story in a limited amount of time by alternating between the modern world and the ancient world. The work's use of traditional Chinese costumes from ancient times and references to the famous character Hua Mulan in characterization expresses the resilience of women at a deeper level.

The story of the short film tells the story of a girl who lost her lover in a past life through a hairpin and is looking for her lover's reincarnation in this life

  • Lin Zhao
    Director
  • Lin Zhao
    Writer
  • Chenhan Yao
    Producer
  • Xinyi Zhou
    Key Cast
  • Chenhan Yao
    Key Cast
  • Jiahui Wang
    Photographer
  • Yuanhang Chen
    Photographer
  • Lin Zhao
    editor
  • Project Type:
    Feature, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    2 minutes 37 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 15, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of Sydney
Director Biography - Lin Zhao

Lin Zhao is a Chinese-born contemporary filmmaker who explores Chinese history and social issues of figurative representation. She has a special interest in theories related to the development process of modern China, the history of China, the status of Chinese women in different periods, contemporary social issues, and mass psychology like smiling depression. Although she doesn't have any influential works yet, she is very good at creating short narrative films on topics she is interested in or is researching and discussing.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The hairpin served as a dialogue editing exercise that gave me a deeper understanding of the role and use of J-CUT and L-CUT, and also gave me the opportunity to tell a story set in ancient China, combining modern and ancient times. In the creation of the story, I drew on the background of the famous Chinese character Hua Mulan, trying to express the toughness and bravery of women, i.e. the girl in the ancient world who chooses to go to the battlefield instead of her father, to kill the enemy.