Scenes from One Second, in which director Zhang returns to memories of his youth and re-creates the cinema of yesteryear, when watching movies was a treat for the community. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Aside from the exploration of humanity, set in a tough and turbulent era, a stylish feature in most of Zhang Yimou's films ranging from Raise the Red Lantern (1991) to Coming Home (2014), what makes One Second distinctive is that it highlights the repair of damaged film-a skill that may soon be lost.

In One Second, a reel gets dragged along a dirt road for dozens of meters. The villagers despair that they will never see the blockbuster Heroic Sons and Daughters. Actor Fan Wei, starring as the projectionist, Fan Dianying, convinces the villagers to hang the film on sticks, using clean water to wash it up before drying the wet film by waving fans slowly and gently.

"I believe fewer directors nowadays know these methods more than me. With a shortage of devices limited by a then shabby environment, we had to 'invent' our own ways to cope with film," says Zhang Yimou.

A native from Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Zhang Yimou demonstrated a passion for photography in his early 20s when he was a worker at a cotton mill in Xianyang, Shaanxi province. Saving up all his spare money, and even selling blood, Zhang Yimou purchased his first camera and developed his skills in the darkroom.

With his artistic gift, Zhang Yimou was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy to major in cinematography in 1978, the second year after the national college entrance exam was revived.

When asked if he mostly favors the stories set between 1960s and 1970s, the director says: "I don't especially favor any period of history. For me, the past is gone. We should all look forward. I wish and believe China's tomorrow will be better.

"The movie is about my growing-up and my adolescent period."

However, the 70-year-old director has a fight on his hands for box office supremacy. Crime thriller Caught in Time went into the lead on its opening day, and One Second has also been passed by Hollywood animated film The Croods: A New Age, which was simultaneously released on Friday.

"The movie is like a 'love letter' that director Zhang writes to commemorate the physical film era. A serious work like that could remind you that cinema is more than entertainment, it also arouses in-depth thought," comments one viewer on Douban.