Facing the Mirror
Directed by Zhenhao Wen
United States · 2026 · 9 min 30 sec · Experimental
Submitted to RTV International Film Festival 2026Synopsis
After years away from dance, a woman watching Swan Lake feels the urge to perform again. She puts on her makeup and steps onto the stage with a Peking opera aria. As conversations and a child's crying grow louder, she keeps performing. Only when she walks down into the auditorium does she discover that the theater is empty.
Director(s)
Zhenhao Wen is a performer, researcher, photographer, and educator. He is a Ph.D. student in Performance Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His research examines how bodies produce knowledge through movement, improvisation, image-making, and teaching. His creative work focuses on bodies that are ordinary, unfinished, or overlooked, and on how performance and images can keep their experience visible.
Official link
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RTV International Film Festival — Inaugural Online Edition · 2026