Berlin adds Chinese sci-fi animation 'Light Pillar' to its Perspectives lineup

The Berlin Film Festival's curators have quietly widened the scope of their Perspectives section by welcoming Xu Zao's debut feature, an animated vision titled "Han ye deng zhu" - rendered in English as "Light Pillar." The film imagines a world where the notion of traveling beyond Earth has slipped from fantasy into everyday reality, a premise that feels both timely and oddly nostalgic for a medium traditionally rooted in the past. Inside the festival's corridors, the buzz centers on how the Chinese production blends sleek, futuristic design with a lyrical storytelling approach that feels at home alongside European art-house fare. Industry insiders note that the selection signals a growing appetite for non-Western animated voices that can articulate grand speculative ideas without sacrificing visual poetry. For Xu Zao, the invitation marks a rare platform to showcase a first-time feature to an audience that values bold imagination, and for Berlin, it reinforces the festival's reputation as a launchpad for boundary-pushing cinema from across the globe.