Dream of a Persimmon Girl is a collaborative work between fashion brand ZAMX and director Wenkai Wang.

Shanghai and NYC-based filmmaker Wenkai Wang creates an immersive dream world in a new fashion film shot in Zhuchuan Village, Shizhen, on the western island of Lin'an. Dream of a Persimmon Girl dwells in the surreal corners of the mundane, exploring themes of inevitability and time. Wang stages poetic dialogues between life’s different stages and marks the essence of human existence through the poetic representation of clothing as “traces.”

Wang was particularly inspired by the intricate relationship between magic, cinema, and early theatre, and the works of Georges Méliès and Sergei Parajanov. 

“Early cinema blurred the boundaries between space, much like theatre, yet employed jump cuts to create cognitive dissonance - a man could vanish from one place and reappear elsewhere,” explained Wang. “Dream of A Persimmon Girl reflects upon this liminal space between cinema and theatre while embracing the tradition of poetry cinema.”

While developing the imagery for the film, Creative Director Xunzi was also struck by the fashion label’s founder’s grandmother and her hand-embroidered pieces which evoked a “childlike innocence intertwining with the fabric of time.”

“We find ourselves in a society guided by madness, visual spectacles, and popular trends…However, we trust there exists another calm world, one that has never disappeared but has merely temporarily hidden itself. Zhuchuan village is an ideal hidden gem for this project.”

The location and setting add to the dreamlike charms of the short. A place where time remains suspended, Zhuchuan Village is a designated municipal cultural relic protection unit, with a history of over 300 years. Built along the mountainside, the ancient village was said to have faced transportation difficulties in the past, making it impossible to transport roof tiles for construction. Therefore, locals resorted to using stones collected from the mountains as roofing tiles and sourced slate locally for the walls, creating a unique style of stone houses.

A small stream flows around the ancient village. Villagers have constructed bamboo and wooden platforms over the stream for drying goods, resembling a canopy over the creek. During the film crew’s visit in late autumn, they were greeted with rare sunshine, and villagers were seen drying their mountain walnuts, persimmons, and various fruits, creating a picturesque scene.

“Everything was shot on digital with a set of vintage Cooke 4i lenses, and the colour grading session had more room to achieve a special retro early cinema look,” said Wang.