HIPPOPOTAMI
by JJ Lin​

13min | China/Hong Kong | 2025

In the suburbs of a northern Chinese city undergoing urbanization​, a quirky girl who wants to see animals in the zoo is taken for a ride which will forever change her perspective on life.​

Original Title He Ma
​Year of production 2025
Length 13'
Country China/Hong Kong
Shooting Format 4K HD
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Dialogue Mandarin
​
Director Lin Jianjie (JJ)
Production Companies MOS Productions, Paradigm Shift Entertainment
Producers Lou Ying, Lin Jianjie
Co-Presented by Zhang Wen, Li Haoyuan
Writers Lin Jianjie (JJ)
Cinematographer Li Chen
Editors Huang Bingjie, Lin Jianjie
Casting Liao Yanlong, Wang Cong, Zeng Mingke
Art Director Yu Chen, Pai Pai
Sound Supervisor Liu Qi
Colorist Cai Yaohui
Location Sound Hu Jia
Assistant Director Zhou Yancheng
Key Stills Of Hippopotami Heinrich van den Berg, Gorazd Golob
Cast Zhang Zhiyong, Wang Zixi, Xu Ge, Wang Zhenhua
​​
Festival selections
​​Sundance Film Festival 2025, USA - World Premiere
Berlin Critics’ Week 2025, Germany
​Tampere Film Festival 2025, Finland - Best Fiction Award
Festival Regard - Saguenay International Short Film Festival 2025, Canada
​Akbank Short Film Festival 2025, Turkey
​​BAFICI - Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente 2025, Argentina
​SXSW London 2025, UK
​​​Rooftop Films 2025, USA
​FEST - New Directors/New Films Festival 2025, Portugal
​​Palm Springs International ShortFest 2025, USA
​Abbas Kiarostami International Short Film Festival 2025, Germany
ShorTS - International Film Festival 2025, Italy - Best Short Film Award, ShortsTv Award
New York Asian Film Festival 2025, USA
Indy Shorts International Film Festival 2025, USA
​​DokuFest - International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2025, Kosovo
​Guanajuato International Film Festival 2025, Mexico
​HollyShorts Film Festival 2025, USA
ANONIMUL International Independent Film Festival 2025, Romania
​Gozo Film Festival 2025, Malta
​​Nashville Film Festival 2025, USA
​Orvieto Cinema Fest 2025, Italy
​Pingyao International Film Festival 2025, China
​Encounters Film Festival 2025 UK
​TiSFF - Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival 2025, Greece
​Monstrale Festival 2025, Germany
​Linz International Short Film Festival 2025, Austria
​​​Kaohsiung Film Festival 2025, Taiwan
Sapporo International Short Film Festival & Market 2025, Japan
FánHuā Chinese Film Festival 2025, Italy
​Chicago International Film Festival 2025, USA
Vita Shorts 2025, China
​Cinemaforum 2025, Poland
​Jakarta Film Week 2025, Indonesia
​Seoul International Extreme-Short Image & Film Festival 2025, South Korea - Special Mention
​Festival Internacional de Curtas de Belo Horizonte 2025, Brazil
Izmir International Short Film Festival 2025, Turkey
​Alter-Native International Short Film Festival 2025, Romania
Freak Film Festival 2025, Italy
​Festival Internacional de Cine de Almería 2025, Spain
Hayah Festival Internacional de Cortometrajes de Panamá 2025
​​Ale Kino Festival 2025, Poland
​
Director's Statement
While preparing for my feature film, I read a news article about a couple’s shady business in a Northern Chinese town. I felt an immediate sense of absurdity which I could not shake off. But I didn’t want to simply tell the story as it was in the news. One day, an image popped up in my head:
a little girl staring at the deadpan, dull, wrinkly and sagging face of a hippopotamus. Then the hippo opens its mouth, revealing strong, dangerous teeth.
The girl wonders whether it’s going to eat her, or is it yawning. I see a curious gaze trying to penetrate the deceivingly docile look of reality - a reality kept obscure by the parents.
The antitheses between the real and the absurd, the innocent and the obscene, the elegance of high art and the ugliness of the transaction, inspires me to approach this story about lost innocence with a darkly humorous tone. Choosing a little girl as protagonist allows me to keep
a distance from the original case while plunging into
the real horror of it: not what is happening now, but
​what could happen in the future.

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