Synopsis
Before my thirty-fourth birthday, I underwent emergency surgery at the ER. I¡¯ve been diagnosed with stage 3 endometrial cancer. Enduring the tough chemotherapy, I sense that it changes the way I see the world and how my body experiences it. It also recalls my memories of my grandmother who fought against kidney cancer but passed away in pain. I realize that I have never thought about my fear of death even though I filmed my grandmother's funeral eight years ago. With a 25cm surgical scar from my navel to the perineum, I now pick up the camera to confront my deepest fear of death with the desire to live, standing on the border between death and life.
Review
25cm is a personal essay exploring the question that a person, undergoing the tough treatment, asks oneself: Is life worth living despite the overwhelming pain? This film explores the universal fear of death and the search for meaning in life through the director's process of confronting her pain and death with the poetic images of daily life and her voice reflecting on her desire to be alive. 25cm portrays the journey of a person in their 30s standing on the border between life and death, reminding us that everyone's time is finite and we all are dying little by little every moment. Through reflecting on death, this film aims to explore the beauty of life that can be discovered when embracing the limits of it.