In Mainland China, films are reviewed by the National Film Administration (NFA) under the Publicity Department which dictates whether, when, and how a movie gets released. Officially, the censorship system is designed to promote morality, political stability, and social harmony. Many international award-winning Chinese films are banned in its home country since they failed to pass the censorship. When the hard blow happens to talented young directors, they could be barred for years from the industry even the entire career ruined.

In 2018, young director Hu Bo took his own life after learning that his first film ‘an elephant sitting still’ was banned. The news spread quickly among the industry and public, fans desire to do something to mourn him as well as to prevent such a tragedy happening again.

The best way to mourn a director is to buy a film ticket, however, there’s no way to do so for a film which is never released. We pre-sold a special film ticket to the fans designed with no releasing date, no screens, no seat numbers. each ticket has a unique serial number for verification and redeem, it will be valid whenever the film is released. If this film cannot be published in China at the end, the ticket will become a symbol to mourn Hu Bo and his film, to make a voice against the Chinese censorship, and a weapon for fans to fight for a better future of Chinese cinema.

Film buffs are used to showing their love for movies by posting the ticket on social media. Our special ticket perfectly caught this insight on showing support to a film which can’t be released.

As the complexity of the censorship in China, official media always avoid giving some sharp opinions, so we decided giving the voice back to the public, let the fans talk. The ticket became a symbol that galvanized a movement, sending a clear message to film censors in China that all good films should able to be released. All that ordered the film ticket were encouraged to take the pledge in social media to continue to fight for the film until its release. Relevant departments can’t keep turning a blind eye to the fact anymore.

We created a unique ticket for Hu Bo's unreleased film, 200 tickets were pre-sold at the WeChat shopping channel at 10:00 pm on April 6, 2018, and sold out in 1 min 35 secs. We also sent 100 tickets to some filmmakers and social influencers, they shared online and their directed followers start to ask about this ticket. The ticket won massive attention and supports, quickly aroused discussion among fans on social networks. Associated with 8 cinemas, 5000 tickets were sold in three batches during the following months, all the incomes were given to Hu Bo's parents. We find a way to galvanized people’s voice out, and make continuous efforts for the release of films. From film buffs to filmmakers, to social influencers, to famous directors – the ‘unreleased ticket’ is permeating all tiers of Chinese film culture.

The Unreleased Ticket made their way to gain support of millions of people on social networks, some famous filmmakers were standing up for our tickets and Hu Bo’s film, including Ang Lee, Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Tarr Béla . The media took notice, it was featured on BBC NEWS, The Guardian, New Yorker, and on relevant media like Douban Film, Maoyan as well as Weibo, WeChat, and Instagram.

Overall, there were 47k+ fans voicing out their supporting via social media, 30+ press mentions with headlines explaining the tickets, generating over 2.1 million impressions.

The movement has already started to show its influence: so far, An Elephant Sitting Still has been authorized for 15 special screenings in six cities, which include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, and spreading to other cities with 2 to 3 more screenings per month.