Chinese internet users have been applauding and forwarding an Apple Spring Festival promotional video for its delicate and culturally sensitive storytelling. US filmmaker Theodore Melfi shot the 8-minute video with an iPhone11 Pro and Apple CEO Tim Cook posted it on the account of his Twitter-like Sina Weibo .  Based on a true story, the video talks about a single mother from Chongqing Municipality in Southwest China who left her mother and brought up her daughter alone by driving a taxi.  On a rainy Spring Festival eve when the single mother was about to finish work, she saw a passenger wave at her, who turned out to be her mother, carrying a box of dumplings in her hand. The family reunified. 

"There is nothing more special and enduring than the strength and love of family," Cook posted with the video, which had received more than 2.64 million views by press time. 

Apple is continuing its strategy of telling a Chinese New Year story using only its phone technology, this year focusing on three generations of women in a family and how breaking from cultural convention impacts them on Chinese New Year.

The ad can be viewed on Apple’s Youku Channel. While the film is shot using Apple’s 4K technology on the iPhone 11 Pro, the talent brought in on the ad is very much professional. Academy Award-nominated director Theodore Melfi and award-winning cinematographer Lawrence Sher both worked on the ad, while award-winning Chinese actress Zhou Xun plays the main character.

The concept behind the story was to show how there are big generational differences in China, particularly when it comes to the concept of family. The meaning underneath the film, according to Apple is “no matter how much we all grow apart, humanity has the power to bring us together”. Apple has also launched a ‘behind the scenes’ film, to help people inspired by the film learn how to make professional-quality films themselves. Apple also hosted a Q&A session at its Shanghai store this weekend, featuring Melfi and Sher.