1. "Snipers"

Despite being busy working on the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, China's most esteemed and prolific film director Zhang Yimou still managed a two-month leave to shoot "Snipers" in early 2021 alongside his daughter and emerging director Zhang Mo as co-director. The film stars Zhang Yu, Chen Yongsheng, Zhang Yi, and numerous up-and-coming actors, and is a fast-paced, simple, breathtaking, and heart-wrenching but heroic story depicting Chinese sharpshooters in their fight against elite enemy snipers to win a small-scale but crucial battle. Though it features relatively contained visuals and more muted action scenes compared to other war epics, audiences were deeply touched and inspired by Zhang’s latest, demonstrating how masterful a director he still is and how he continues to challenge himself and bring new facets to Chinese filmmaking.