# An Elephant Sitting Still (大象席地而坐)
**An Elephant Sitting Still** (大象席地而坐) is a 2018 Chinese drama film written, directed, and edited by Hu Bo (胡波), who published fiction under the pen name Hu Qian (胡迁). Adapted from the title story of his short-story collection *Da Lie* (《大裂》), it follows four people over a single day in a declining northern Chinese industrial town who each set out for Manzhouli, where an elephant in the zoo reportedly sits motionless all day. The film runs 234 minutes, was Hu Bo's first feature, and became his final work: he died by suicide on 12 October 2017, four months before its international premiere at the 68th [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival).[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1960) • [2](https://www.fx361.com/page/2019/0419/5027008.shtml) • [3](https://www.mplus.org.hk/sc/cinema/an-elephant-sitting-still/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | Hu Bo (胡波, 1988–2017), pen name Hu Qian (胡迁); graduate of the directing department of the Beijing Film Academy[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1960) |
| Release | 2018, China; 234 minutes; Mandarin with English subtitles[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1960) |
| Source | Adapted by Hu Bo from his own short story in the collection *Da Lie* (2017)[2](https://www.fx361.com/page/2019/0419/5027008.shtml) |
| Cast | Peng Yuchang, Zhang Yu, Wang Yuwen, Li Congxi[4](https://www.scff.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/SCFF-2019-Book-All-2103-Final.pdf) |
| Golden Horse Awards | 55th Golden Horse Awards: Best Feature Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Audience Choice Award; nominated for Best New Director, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Film Score[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1960) |
| Berlinale | 68th Berlin International Film Festival, Forum section: FIPRESCI Prize and GWFF Best First Feature Award Special Mention[5](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/daxiangxidierzuo/) |
| Other honors | Best Asian Chinese Language Film, 39th Hong Kong Film Awards; Audience Choice Grand Award, 42nd Hong Kong International Film Festival[6](https://asianfilmarchive.org/event-calendar/an-elephant-sitting-still-2018/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film takes place over one day in a rundown town in northern China and interweaves four storylines. The high school student Wei Bu, protecting a friend, accidentally causes the school bully Shuai to fall down a staircase and be left unconscious, and flees home. His classmate Huang Ling is disgraced when a video of her improper closeness with the school's vice principal is maliciously circulated, and her mother's coldness leaves her nowhere to stay. The pensioner Wang Jin, Wei Bu's neighbor, has spent most of his life in a house that his daughter and son-in-law now want to use as leverage, pushing him toward a care home. Yu Cheng, Shuai's older brother and a small-time gangster, wants revenge for his brother but is consumed by guilt over a friend who jumped to his death after Yu Cheng's betrayal.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1960) • [7](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fdcn68020896)
A legend runs through the film: in the Manzhouli zoo there is an elephant that just sits on the ground all day, ignoring the forks people throw at it and the food people offer it, doing nothing else. The four characters, each trapped in a day of accumulating trouble, come to see the journey to this indifferent animal as their only escape or redemption, and the film ends with Wei Bu, Wang Jin, and Huang Ling boarding the long-distance bus to Manzhouli.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1960) • [8](https://chinesisches-filmfest.culturebase.org/zh_CN/films/19772)
## Production and the director's death
Hu Bo was born in 1988 in Jinan, Shandong, studied film directing at the Beijing Film Academy, and published fiction from 2014 under the pen name Hu Qian, including the collections *Da Lie* (2017), whose title novella won the first prize at Taiwan's World Chinese Film Novel Award, and the novel *Niuwa* (2017).[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1960) • [5](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/daxiangxidierzuo/) The project, originally titled *Golden Fleece* (《金羊毛》), was selected for the 2016 FIRST Young Film Festival venture session in Xining, where it attracted financing including the production company Dongchun Films.[5](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/daxiangxidierzuo/) • [9](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0226/c40606-29833701.html)
After shooting was completed, Hu Bo quickly delivered a first cut of about four hours. The production company pressed him toward a shorter version, and a dispute over the final cut followed; reporting at the time of the Berlin premiere stated that he received no payment after the dispute with the producer.[9](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0226/c40606-29833701.html) • [10](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/7hvLGHtFxkg) On 12 October 2017, at the age of 29, Hu Bo hanged himself in the stairwell of a residential building in Beijing. The nearly four-hour version he had cut before his death was the one screened in the Berlinale's Forum section.[3](https://www.mplus.org.hk/sc/cinema/an-elephant-sitting-still/) • [11](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_18542370)
## Style
The film is built from carefully arranged long takes, many in a single continuous shot, with a cold, gray, desaturated palette and handheld camerawork that stays close behind the characters. Silence dominates the soundtrack, punctuated by sudden outbursts of verbal and physical violence.[12](https://chinaindiefilm.org/films/an-elephant-sitting-still/?lang=zh-hans) • [13](https://www.hk01.com/%E8%97%9D%E6%96%87%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B/327421/%E5%BF%AB%E8%A9%95-%E5%A4%A7%E8%B1%A1%E5%B8%AD%E5%9C%B0%E8%80%8C%E5%9D%90-%E6%9C%80%E5%8F%9B%E9%80%86%E7%9A%84%E5%8F%8D%E6%8A%97-%E6%98%AF%E5%88%B0%E6%BB%BF%E6%B4%B2%E9%87%8C%E7%9C%8B%E5%A4%A7%E8%B1%A1) The *Sight and Sound* critic Giovanni Marchini Camia, a film critic and scholar, described lengthy, almost ethereal [Steadicam](https://www.edgepedia.org/steadicam) shots, facial close-ups, and shallow focus that keep the surroundings indistinct, producing an intimacy that reflects the characters' self-absorption, and located the film's despair in the economic depression of a stagnant former industrial city.[14](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/elephant-sitting-still-review-shattering-soul-searching-chinese-one) Critics have connected the aesthetic to the Hungarian director [Béla Tarr](https://www.edgepedia.org/bela-tarr), whose *Sátántangó* also uses very long takes, and to [Jia Zhangke](https://www.edgepedia.org/jia-zhangke)'s portraits of people left behind by China's economic transformation.[3](https://www.mplus.org.hk/sc/cinema/an-elephant-sitting-still/) • [14](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/elephant-sitting-still-review-shattering-soul-searching-chinese-one)
## Reception and awards
The film premiered internationally in the Forum section of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival on 16 February 2018 and won the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Prize for that section, along with a Special Mention for the GWFF Best First Feature Award.[15](https://culture.caixin.com/2018-02-25/101213734.html) • [5](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/daxiangxidierzuo/) It went on to screen at festivals in more than 30 countries and regions, including Toronto and New Directors/New Films, and opened the FIRST Young Film Festival in Xining in July 2018.[5](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/daxiangxidierzuo/)
At the 55th Golden Horse Awards in Taipei on 17 November 2018, it won Best Feature Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and the Audience Choice Award, with Hu Bo posthumously nominated for Best New Director; his mother accepted the award on his behalf.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1960) • [16](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621243&indexCode=Culture_Object) It later received the Best Asian Chinese Language Film award at the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards.[6](https://asianfilmarchive.org/event-calendar/an-elephant-sitting-still-2018/) On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 94% approval rating from 51 critics, with the site's critics consensus calling it "a remarkable debut that sadly serves as its creator's epitaph."[17](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_elephant_sitting_still) The Chicago Reader critic Ben Sachs called it the most audacious debut feature from mainland China since Wang Bing's nine-hour documentary *[West of the Tracks](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-of-the-tracks)* (2002).[17](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_elephant_sitting_still)
## References
1. [An Elephant Sitting Still, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival archive](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1960)
2. [《大象席地而坐》电影叙事学解读, 参考网](https://www.fx361.com/page/2019/0419/5027008.shtml)
3. [大象席地而坐, M+ 博物馆](https://www.mplus.org.hk/sc/cinema/an-elephant-sitting-still/)
4. [Singapore Chinese Film Festival 2019 programme book](https://www.scff.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/SCFF-2019-Book-All-2103-Final.pdf)
5. [大象席地而坐, FIRST影展电影资料库](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/daxiangxidierzuo/)
6. [An Elephant Sitting Still (2018), Asian Film Archive](https://asianfilmarchive.org/event-calendar/an-elephant-sitting-still-2018/)
7. [大象席地而坐, 开眼电影网](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fdcn68020896)
8. [大象席地而坐, Chinesisches Filmfest München](https://chinesisches-filmfest.culturebase.org/zh_CN/films/19772)
9. [新人包揽柏林电影节大奖 青年导演胡波遗作获赞赏, 人民网](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0226/c40606-29833701.html)
10. [胡波导演，你看到了吗？感恩一切, 凤凰网](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/7hvLGHtFxkg)
11. [锐评 | 别处荒原：观《大象席地而坐》联想到的城市场域, 澎湃新闻](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_18542370)
12. [大象席地而坐, Chinese Independent Film Archive](https://chinaindiefilm.org/films/an-elephant-sitting-still/?lang=zh-hans)
13. [快评．大象席地而坐：最叛逆的反抗是到满洲里看大象, 香港01](https://www.hk01.com/%E8%97%9D%E6%96%87%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B/327421/%E5%BF%AB%E8%A9%95-%E5%A4%A7%E8%B1%A1%E5%B8%AD%E5%9C%B0%E8%80%8C%E5%9D%90-%E6%9C%80%E5%8F%9B%E9%80%86%E7%9A%84%E5%8F%8D%E6%8A%97-%E6%98%AF%E5%88%B0%E6%BB%BF%E6%B4%B2%E9%87%8C%E7%9C%8B%E5%A4%A7%E8%B1%A1)
14. [An Elephant Sitting Still review, Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/elephant-sitting-still-review-shattering-soul-searching-chinese-one)
15. [第68届柏林电影节落幕 胡波遗作《大象席地而坐》获费比西奖, 财新网](https://culture.caixin.com/2018-02-25/101213734.html)
16. [《大象席地而坐》荣获金马奖最佳剧情片, 国家文化记忆库](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621243&indexCode=Culture_Object)
17. [An Elephant Sitting Still, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_elephant_sitting_still)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2015 to 2019 › Drama films 2017 and 2018*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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