10/02/2026
In Conversation with Director Pamela Pan:�On Hidden, authorship, and making a first feature against the odds
We spoke with director Pamela Pan, a young Chinese filmmaker making her debut feature, about the origins of Hidden, the long struggle to bring it to life, and finding a voice as a woman working in a male-dominated industry.
Hidden is your first feature. Why did you choose such a challenging story for your debut?�
I was drawn to the psychological depth and moral ambiguity of Chen Xiwo’s novella. From the first time I read it, I knew I wanted to adapt it. Reading it felt like a knife to the heart — painful, but it gave me the courage to re-examine my own life. At the time, I was in a very difficult situation, and the story forced me to confront my own circumstances. That personal interrogation became inseparable from the film.
The project went through many rejected drafts. What kept you going?�
Rejection was inevitable. This is not a cheerful story. I wanted to tell something that stays with you, something that keeps you awake at night — the parts of yourself you would rather not face. Repeated rejection was discouraging, but it also gave me strength. This film itself is proof of artistic freedom and perseverance.
What first set you on the path to filmmaking?�
I grew up with very little. My family borrowed rice from relatives, and I struggled to pay school fees, but I never felt ashamed. I believed education was the only way out. Books became my closest companions. Later I studied 3D animation, and a French professor introduced me to short films that expanded my idea of cinema. One night I watched In the Mood for Love, and something clicked. I realised cinema could be my way of expressing inner life and emotion.
As a young female director, what obstacles have you faced in making this film?�
There were many. Without background or previous features, it was hard to convince people to trust me. Networking was another challenge, because much of it happens in male-dominated spaces that don’t feel natural to me. During preparation, many people who read the script assumed I was male. They thought the subject matter was too sharp, too bold for a woman. But my focus has never been on provocation. It’s about psychology and the spiritual interior — the needs of the soul, not just the body.
You cast a non-professional paraplegic actor in a central role. Why was that important to you?�
This role required lived experience, not imitation. Many actors can convincingly mimic physical gestures, but very few understand what it means to live with disability every day; the time it takes for a small wound to heal, or the feeling of moving through public space while being constantly watched or judged.
Zhang Siyuan carries that knowledge in his body. Although he had never acted in a feature film before, he has a powerful sense of presence and determination, shaped by his own life experience. I was interested not in performance tricks, but in what emerges when someone with that lived reality is given the space to be seen and heard on screen.
I hope the film can open doors for actors with disabilities to be cast in serious, complex roles — and that this kind of authenticity will become less of an exception in cinema.
After Hidden, what kinds of stories do you hope to tell?�
My focus will always be on the human interior — psychology, intimacy, and the secrets buried within society. I believe cinema can reveal the parts of us we most need to confront.
