In Public (simplified Chinese: 公共场所; traditional Chinese: 公共場所; pinyin: Gōng gōng cháng sǔo; literally "Public space") is a short documentary film directed by sixth generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke. In Public was filmed digitally for the 2001 Jeonju International Film Festival.
In many ways, the film was a test-run for the feature length fiction film, Unknown Pleasures. Both films are shot in digital film (a medium Jia would return to in Still Life (2006) and 24 City (2008)), both are set in the city of Datong, and both share the same shooting locations. As usual, Jia's regular collaborator Yu Lik-wai served as the film's director of photography.
The film also screened at the 2002 Marseille Festival of Documentary Film, where it won the Grand Prix.
In Public was made and submitted by Jia as part of a program at the 2001 Jeonju International Film Festival, where three directors were asked to produce a short film in digital video. The other two directors who produced entries that year were Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang and British director John Akomfrah. Setting up his camera in a train station in Datong, Jia would eventually cobble together a film consisting of thirty shots
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