The Tale of the Peony / 牡丹记
Inspired by late-Tang poet Yu Xuanji, the film uses a supernatural tale and paper-textured images to explore the social pressures facing a gifted woman.
Watch the film
- Full film · YouTube (new tab)
Full film linked by the official award list. English subtitles have not been confirmed.
- Full film · Bilibili (new tab)
Published by OYO_org (co-creator Sun Jintao). The upload is credited to OYO_org and Liu Yuqing. English subtitles have not been confirmed.
From the filmmakers
Classes, interviews and production notes from the filmmakers and their teams.
Creator interview · Article · Chinese
The Tale of the Peony: Building a Story around a Paper-Based Visual Style (new tab)
36Kr’s Lan Jie interviews Liu Yuqing and Sun Jintao · 36Kr · DeepKr lite · 2026.07.16
The filmmakers describe adapting Sun’s earlier paper-texture artwork into a film, with Liu developing the story inspired by poet Yu Xuanji. The production section discusses directing action with frame and camera references, then retouching, drawing and revising keyframes to keep the look consistent.
- Develop a narrative from existing visual research.
- Specify action and camera intent.
- Maintain visual consistency through manual revisions.
Verification and access notes
The Peony-specific sections, publication date, byline and attributed remarks were checked on 36Kr. Methods from other films in the report are not transferred here, and the filmmakers’ estimated expenditure is not presented as a general production budget.
A Chinese-language industry feature; scroll to the sections about The Tale of the Peony. It is not a complete making-of tutorial.
Checked: 2026.10.23
Film record
| Recognition | Best Auteur Expression Award, HKUST AI Film Festival 2026 |
|---|---|
| Festival / platform | 2nd HKUST AI Film Festival 2026 |
| Director | Liu Yuqing and Sun Jintao |
| Runtime | 07:57 |
Awards and recognition
- Award · HKUST AI Film Festival 2026
source ↗ - Selection · Merge Film Festival 2026
source ↗
AI production notes
The organiser identifies AIGC production. The filmmakers describe developing the story from earlier paper-texture artwork and using retouching, drawing and keyframe revisions to maintain a consistent look. No exact AI-generated proportion is confirmed.
Related opportunities
- HKUST AI Film Festival 2026 · Award
- Merge Film Festival 2026 · Selection