Kogonada Calls Zi a Reset and a Return to His Roots at Sundance 2026

Описание: After last year’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, filmmaker Kogonada tells Weintraub he needed “a real break from the system.” He discusses how he and cinematographer Benjamin Loeb (After Yang) decided to escape to Hong Kong, in search of a city with stories to tell. They weren’t certain what kind of film they would be making — maybe a documentary, or maybe an anthology of stories — but Kogonada knew his next journey wouldn’t be found in tandem with the aforementioned system. There, on the streets of Hong Kong, with a bare-bones cast and crew, they filmed Zi in a whirlwind of three weeks.

Starring Jin Ha (Pachinko), Michelle Mao (A Big Bold Beautiful Journey), and Haley Lu Richardson (Ponies), Zi follows the titular character, a young woman unnerved by puzzling visions of her future self, played by Mao, as she encounters a stranger (Richardson) who may alter the course of her entire life.

When asked how the making of Zi impacted him, Kogonada calls it “transformative.” He further explains the motivation to scale back after a big Hollywood blockbuster:

“It's 100% transformative for me, really, at the right time in my life. After I made Columbus, I just thought, ‘Oh, I think I can make this kind of film,’ but I was just very new to the industry. This film is very much in the realm of Chris Marker and René, and all these films that meant so much to me. Whenever I would try to pitch that in LA, people were just like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And so it became very clear that if I wanted to make a living, I had to just navigate and figure it out.

But I think I got to a point where the love for cinema and a certain kind of cinema kept feeling like it was further away. My opportunities kept getting bigger, but I wanted to make films to try to capture something that meant so much to me. So, it was really almost a desperate act just to get a reset on my own career, and it has been.”

Check out the full conversation, where Ha explains the unusual approach Kogonada took with his actors to keep their dynamics as authentic as possible and the duo discuss their “guerrilla-style” filmmaking in the city. They also play Collider’s Bracket Challenge, discuss their favorite films by Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and Stanley Kubrick, and discuss their favorite failures and the project that most intimidated them.

00:27 - Kogonada explains how the making of Zi embodies the spirit of Sundance.
01:51 - The filmmaker reveals his desire for creative freedom that led to Zi.
05:53 - Zi experiments with the “art of not knowing.”
08:36 - Kogonada calls this return to his filmmaking roots a “reset” on his career.
12:55 - Kogonada and Jin Ha play Collider’s Bracket Challenge!
13:24 - The Zi duo shares their favorite films from Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and Stanley Kubrick.
16:46 - Get to know Kogonada and Jin Ha!

#sundance #sundance2026 #kogonada #zi #jinha

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