To be loved, we tell lies to make ourselves more appealing; to be accepted, we sculpt ourselves into shapes that others recognise. On stage, performance becomes a refuge to rehearse the self we ache to inhabit. From drag to forbidden kisses, funeral rites to genderbending opera, roles are imposed, stolen, resisted—until they breathe through us. Between stage and life, secrecy and exposure, fiction and documentary, what begins as acting slowly becomes being.

Curatorial idea by Shimeng Wang, as part of Up Next: Future Film Curators Lab 2025/26