Chinese director Dong Mingxing: I want to get out of my comfort zone

Have you ever wondered what goes into producing the stunning visual effects that make movies so captivating? CGTN talks to experienced director Dong Mingxing to help us get a glimpse into the magic behind the scenes.

When we met Dong, she was directing a promotional video for the festival. She is also one of the members of the NEWHER Female Film Unit, which aims to explore the power of women and promote Chinese women's films.

Dong Mingxing has been a visual effects director for 12 years. "But I'm still a freshman in the film industry," she said.

Dong said that as a visual effects director, she has to assist film directors with special shots that are impossible to achieve in real situations.

"For example, our current shooting is a scene from a parallel universe. Virtual shooting can switch between various parallel universes in real-time," Dong said, "Using virtual shooting, we can switch scenes every 5 to 10 minutes."

Talking about her future shooting plans, she said she wanted to try all movie genres. "The field of film directing is my discomfort zone, I'm not particularly good at it yet. So every film I shoot, I will make great progress," she said, "So I especially like the discomfort zone."

Dong said that during her more than 10 years in the film industry, there have not been many female directors, and even fewer female directors, working in visual effects. She hopes that more women will join the visual effects industry and expand their teams together.

"I hope that every woman, being a mother or just being yourself, after every five years, everyone will feel that 'I am very grateful to myself for working so hard. Then, in the next five years, I will become better and better,'" said Dong.

Cameraman: Zheng Hao and Li Bancheng