The wind of Dali comes from Cangshan Mountain,
the blue of Erhai Lake is built by daily practice,
and Shanhu runs her life at the rhythm of the mountains.
In 2020, in Dali —
my very first independent project in this industry.
For the first time, the camera followed one person this closely.
She sets out in the morning light,
lapping the foothills of Cangshan again and again,
sweat carried away by the breeze over Erhai.
Training is repetition,
but every step of Shanhu’s is a conversation with herself.
This is what an athlete truly looks like.
Later I came to understand:
a documentary isn’t about recording a race,
it’s about how a person keeps going, quietly.
“The road she ran grew into the mountain beneath her feet.”