Cinematic Voices
Female Directors (Nv daoyan) (2012, 42 min., Mandarin with English subtitles, digital)
A most exhilarating directorial debut,
Female Directors seductively treads the boundaries between documentary and fiction (it’s been called a “mockumentary,” but who’s to know?). When job prospects elude them, two sassy, foul-mouthed twenty-something art school graduates (Yang Mingming and her co-conspirator Guo Yue) decide to film each other’s lives instead, passing the camera back and forth. This involves talking candidly about sex, trading “pussy” for material and emotional gain, and sleeping with the same man, nicknamed “Short Stuff” in a hilarious phone conversation. “My best toy is my small camera, not pretty boys, because it can be a gun sometimes,” says Yang.