A fashion film shot in Tbilisi, Georgia, structured as an anime intro: three Chinese gods on a journey west, styled entirely in emerging Georgian designers. Written by Preston Ken Zeng. I joined as Director of Photography for the remaining shoot days and cut the film end to end.

Written by: Preston Ken Zeng Role: Director of Photography, Editor Location: Tbilisi, Georgia

Zhong Kui, a mortal turned immortal demon slayer, escapes the Heavens and finds himself alone in Tbilisi. The goddess Guan Yin comes to Earth looking for him and learns something about herself through the Georgians she meets. Wukong, the Monkey God, sits in paradise missing his friend and experiencing Heaven as an infinite flashback.

Preston built the concept around the historical fact that Georgia sat at the midpoint of the Silk Road — the shortest route between Asia and Europe — and art-directed it as an homage to the painter Fan Zeng and Hokusai's Great Picture Book of Everything, with nods to Sergei Parajanov. The cast wear emerging Georgian designers throughout.

The problem was scale against resources. A mythological narrative spanning Heaven, Earth, and three separate character arcs, shot in an unfamiliar city with a local crew, on a schedule that had already partly run.

Came on after the first block of photography and shot the remaining schedule. On set, that meant more than camera: directing talent, coordinating the camera department with the 1st AD and 1st AC, and handling rentals and optics.

The project grew past its original scope during those days. What was planned as coverage became something slower and more meditative, and the material started to want a different film than the one on paper.

Cut the film end to end: montage, narrative structure, final assembly — working closely with Preston through the edit. Once picture was locked, I brought in Gerardo Castaños in Madrid to handle color.

The film had to hold two registers at once: fashion, where the clothes have to read clearly and the styling has to stay legible, and myth, where the dramatic tension of the story had to carry across the full runtime.

The answer was to shoot slow, contemplative beauty sequences across a range of Tbilisi locations that could bring the story's Asian mythological themes into a current urban setting.

We shot at the National Botanical Garden, the Chronicle of Georgia, and the Tbilisi Sea, as well as on Mtatsminda near the Mother of Georgia statue with the city as backdrop. That gave us a fantastical landscape that is an actual part of the city.

Camera and lens selection were picked to deliver a Super 16mm look, vintage and dreamy, which we finished in post, guiding our colorist Gerardo Castaños through Zoom sessions between Tbilisi and Madrid.

Location: Tbilisi, Georgia Role: Director of Photography, Editor Color: External, Madrid Format: Fashion film, Episode 1 Fashion: Eight emerging Georgian designers

Written by: Preston Ken Zeng, as Zhongkui Guan Yin: Nina Potskhishvili Euro: Irakli Cholobargia Gyaru: Dea Tavadze Wukong: Santebela

Zhongkui Voice: Vazha Marr Guan Yin Voice: Mila Xinyue Yan

Director of Photography & Post Production: Salvador Vanegas DP: Levan Maisuradze Color: Gerardo Castaños

Fashion: George Keburia, Aka Prodiashvili, Vaska, Godera, Uta Bekaia, Aleksander Akhalkatsishvili

Makeup: Qeto Chantadze, Makeup Institute

Composer: Sportsmanship