Zi (2026)

Interesting facts

• Filmed in: Hong Kong

Zi is a 2026 American experimental drama film edited, produced, written and directed by Kogonada, starring Michelle Mao, Haley Lu Richardson, and Jin Ha. It premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

Production

The film was shot on location in Hong Kong over three weeks in October 2025. Tired of the logistics and meetings associated with big-budget productions he had experienced on his last film, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025), Kogonada assembled as small a cast and crew as possible, with the intention of shooting spontaneously and with little script prepared.

The initial team consisted of seven people: Kogonada, the three actors, cinematographer Benjamin Loeb (who had shot the director's two previous films), and producers Christopher Radcliff and Chung An. In an interview with IndieWire, Kogonada said, "The invitation was, 'Hey, let's all meet in Hong Kong, we all have to pay for ourselves.

The team spent just three days on pre-production after arriving. Loeb often shot in locations the day after finding them during location scouting, with Kogonada calling the process "liberating". A week after filming ended, the director produced a rough edit that was submitted to Sundance Film Festival. The seven members are all credited as producers, with each receiving equal equity if the film is sold to a distribution company.

Zi features compositions by the Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, to whom the film is also dedicated.

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