Still images from Zhang Yimou's latest movie One Second, in which actor Fan Wei  stars as a projectionist, who tries to repair a roll of film, actor Zhang Yi portrays a fleeing criminal attempting to see a film containing footage of his daughter, and actress Liu Haocun acts as a troubled teen. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Movie portraying struggle of father to catch a brief glimpse of daughter is shot using fast-disappearing technique as director focuses on framing a work that sees things differently.

From Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso to British-American auteur Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, physical films-those on reels to be projected onto screens-have captivated generations of moviegoers and the world's top filmmakers.

Now, Zhang Yimou-the first Chinese director to take home a Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival for Red Sorghum in 1988-has also paid tribute to the old cinematic technique.

In his latest directorial outing One Second, which opened across the Chinese mainland on Friday, watching films-a form of entertainment that swept from cities to villages when cultural activities were in short supply in the 1970s, the period in which the new movie is set-is central to the plot, no matter how brief that viewing may be.

Still images from Zhang Yimou's latest movie One Second, in which actor Fan Wei  stars as a projectionist, who tries to repair a roll of film, actor Zhang Yi portrays a fleeing criminal attempting to see a film containing footage of his daughter, and actress Liu Haocun acts as a troubled teen. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Gathering veteran actors Zhang Yi and Fan Wei as well as young actress Liu Haocun, the tale unfolds with a fleeing criminal who makes his escape across a treacherous desert in Northwest China's Gansu province in order to watch a film which contains just one second of footage of his 14-year-old daughter.

The 104-minute film starring Zhang Yi as the criminal and Fan as a projectionist has obtained 7.9 points out of 10 on the country's popular review platform Douban.

Starting his film career as a cinematographer, Zhang Yimou says he has long wanted to portray the physical film era through a down-to-earth and simple story.