Photo: Screenshot of  Chinese director Bi Zhifei's new short film 'The Puppet' from Douban

The Puppet, a short animated suspense film, hit several Chinese video sharing platforms such as Youku on Tuesday. The short film has piqued netizens' curiosity and garnered much attention on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo as it is helmed by controversial Chinese film director Bi Zhifei, who won Most Disappointing Film of 2009-2018 at the 10th Golden Broom Awards, China's version of the Golden Raspberry Awards, in 2019. 

According to Bi, the new animated film, about the marriage of a princess in an imaginary ancient dynasty, is based on a whimsical story he wrote to discuss women's destiny in ancient power-oriented dynasties and viewers can expect suspenseful plot lines and numerous twists. 

Bi also noted that the visual production of The Puppet cost zero money as his team used a video game graphics engine to make the film as a "test field for good ideas." 

Bi's new work has stunned netizens and piqued their curiosity, leaving many of them surprised to find themselves on the same side as the director, who disappointed many moviegoers with his film Pure Hearts: Into Chinese Showbiz in 2017. 

"To be fair, production-wise using a game engine to make a zero-cost work with such a story and graphics is actually very cost-effective. It was a good job. Not to mention how handy the game engine is. He is right, it is a test field for good ideas," said a netizen on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. 

"Not bad, maybe you should go 'into the animation zone' instead of 'into showbiz.' I hope your new work gets more than 2.2 points on Douban, at least I'll definitely go there and rate this a six this time," said another referring to the low 2.2/10 Pure Hearts earned on Chinese media review platform Douban. 

Such supportive voices however were not able to completely drown out those who feel the new film is another dreadful work from Bi, who many suspect is purposely trying to brand himself by turning out poor productions as a marketing tool. 

"He is so good at selling himself. He knows his own 'strength' - being a laughing stock - because his works are terrible. Every time he gets out there, he gets attention, and attention nowadays means a 'stream of money,'" Juanxi, a marketer who works in the film industry in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"Even when it comes to film, the commercial world cares more about attention than artistry." 

Bi's first film Pure Hearts has received a ton of attention. It made Bi famous over night because it was considered by many as the "lamest of the lame." It tells a story about a young media school teacher and his students. 

The film has a 2.2/10 on Douban as well as a 1/10 on IMDb.

This film earned him his first two awards at the Golden Broom Awards in 2018: Most Disappointing Film of the Year and Most Disappointing Director of the Year. 

"The reason it became famous is complex; there was public opinion, the opinion of professional film critics and Bi's battle with Douban, and his own halo of presenting himself as a well-educated individual from a renowned Chinese university…" Shi Wenxue, a Chinese film critic, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"The film is actually a public opinion incident, involving netizens, fans resisting experts, and so forth, which far exceeded the film work itself."