Apple celebrates Lunar New Year with shot-on-iPhone heartwarming film ‘The Comeback’

Apple continues its tradition of releasing shot-on-iPhone films celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year, and for this latest production, the company has tapped director Zhang Meng for a heartwarming story "The Comeback", well worthy of movie theaters.

Weighing in at 23 minutes and released in 1080p resolution, the movie is available for free on YouTube, and mixes different styles from sci-fi elements, kung-fu action, and comedy, all set in a far-away Chinese village and ending on a nostalgic note.

Apple says it is “set to inspire and encourage everyone to never stop believing in their dreams — even if that dream is as far away as Mars.”

The movie was shot entirely using the iPhone 13 Pro, but it has a full-blown production team behind the effort, and additional software and hardware was obviously used. However, no additional lenses were used, everything was captured using only the three native cameras of the iPhone 13 Pro. There is a great variety of shots in the film: low-light recordings, slo-mo shots, timelapses and, of course, the new Cinematic Mode. It is all a powerful reminder of how far technology has come and how even the iPhone in your pocket can be used to create such an incredible production.

The director behind this latest film, Zhang Meng, is best known for writing and directing 2010 feature film "The Piano in a Factory." That movie told the story of a factory worker struggling to build a musical instrument for his daughter, and it ended up winning prizes at various film festivals.

This current film was produced in association with an Apple ad agency in Shanghai.

This is actually the company's fifth time producing a film celebrating the Chinese New Year.

Last year, Apple produced the film 'Nian', shot by director Lulu Wang, and you can watch that movie right below too.

Apple has had its fair share of tough moments with the Chinese Government and obviously it is making most of its iPhones in China. The market remains one of the most important ones for the company. In Q4 of 2021, the company said it has seen unprecedented iPhone performance in Mainland China. According to data from StatCounter, Apple is currently the second largest phone maker in the Asian country, but quickly growing and threatening to overtake market leader Huawei.