'Public space') is a short documentary film directed by Jia Zhangke, a Chinese cinema "Sixth Generation" movement filmmaker.
[2] Lacking in any formal plot, the film instead captures seemingly mundane moments, customers asking for the train schedule, shots inside public buses, etc.
"[2] For Jia, the film was a chance to focus on the public spaces in a modern provincial city of China: the train stations, discos, and karaokes of Datong.
Moreover, Jia came to realize that filming digitally allowed him unprecedented flexibility and movement, inspiring him to begin production of Unknown Pleasures.
"[1] Stylistically, In Public fits with the Jia oeuvre, situated between Platform and Unknown Pleasures, with the long takes of the former and the same desolate locations of the latter.