After finishing the movie, writer/director Bo Hu tragically committed suicide in October 2017 at the age of 29. This makes "An Elephant Sitting Still" the only feature film he directed in his lifetime.
The film is notable for its incredibly lengthy and complicated shots, the longest of which is 18 minutes and 32 seconds.
There are 90 shots in the entire movie, even though it clocks at nearly 4 hours.
The director, Bo Hu, wanted to shoot the film statically but because of the low budget they have no choice and the cinematographer uses a hand held camera to shoot all the scenes.
This film is in the Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films on Letterboxd.