I am 25, a woman still navigating my own “film”: messy, uncertain, full of detours, moments of clarity, and endless rewrites.
By “film”, I do not mean I am directing movies. I mean my life. This chaotic, beautiful, unpolished story, I am trying to make sense of as I go. And somehow, Becoming a Film Director (Rongfei Guo, 2025) felt like a warm hug, as if it understood what it is like to keep showing up, even when nothing is certain. Knowing that the director is a woman, quietly watching these journeys unfold, added a softness, a gentle warmth, a feeling of recognition that made everything feel tender and alive.
The documentary follows two women in a directing program. They are so different, yet their days fold into each other: planning, shooting, waiting, small missteps, laughter spilling from exhaustion. By watching them, I could feel their persistence in every pause, every glance, every gesture. Little by little, I realized this is more than a story about making films: it is about directing life itself: learning to navigate uncertainty, to hold onto what matters, to keep moving forward when the path is unclear. And doing so as women, claiming space to create, to fail, to rise, to keep becoming in a world that often underestimates us.
The camera lingers. Hands hover over scripts, eyes searching for understanding, moments of doubt, and quiet triumph slipping by. There is tenderness in these fragments, a soft intimacy that feels like recognition. I saw their struggle, their joy, their fatigue, and somewhere in it, I saw my own reflection: messy, stumbling, learning, growing, still becoming. It felt quietly powerful to witness women existing fully in their creativity, in their process, in their becoming, under the gentle gaze of another woman who knows what it is like to be here.
The thing I love most is that this documentary does not rush toward perfection. There is no checklist of achievements. There is only presence, effort, mistakes, small victories, and the gentle persistence of creation. These women reminded me that life, like filmmaking, is made in fragments, in pauses, in gestures both bold and delicate, and that claiming space, claiming time to create and be oneself, is itself an act of courage.
By the end, I felt seen. Their process mirrored my own, and perhaps the journeys of so many women still becoming. It made me want to smile quietly at my own chaotic days, to hold my own story gently, to honor my effort, my voice, my choices, and to keep showing up for myself and other women: guided, in a way, by the warmth of women who have come before, watching, listening, believing.
It feels natural that this documentary is part of the Perspektif, which encourages us to rethink what post-cinema means today. Because what could feel more “post” than patience and tenderness in a culture that prizes speed and perfection? As stories are often rushed to become content, Becoming a Film Director reminds us that the heart of cinema—and maybe of life—is in the process. It is in the small moments of learning, of trying and failing, of noticing and feeling, where true meaning is found. (Tirza Kanya) (Ed. Vanis)
Film Details
Becoming a Film Director
成为导演之前 (Cheng Wei Dao Yan Zhi Qian)
Rongfei Guo | 27 min | 2025 | China
Official Selection for Perspektif
Festival Film Dokumenter 2025
