2025
Language: English, Mandarin
Length: 10:31
UK
Each of us has new beginnings with every choice we make, every decision we take.
You are left with so many memories, so many emotions. And life goes on, to new beginnings.
'To New Beginnings' is an excellent documentary about a restaurant owner of over 40 years and his British Chinese restaurant in a small UK town. Through his unique, colourful lens, this film offers genuine insight into British Chinese restaurants, so common across British towns, revealing the human story behind their success and the major challenge they face: succession.
When he runs, the autumn colours blur past, the dry leaves whisper under his feet. The other end of the playground that once seemed so far away is drawing much closer. His past memories return: his childhood in Malaysia, the move to London as a teenager, and his swift success at his first restaurant. Then the downfall. How quickly the money was gambled away. Echoes of slot machines and roulette wheels drift back to him. His breath grows heavier, his steps lose their rhythm, and his vision swims with last night's slight hangover. He has to stop to catch his breath, then walks back to his restaurant to start his day as usual. For almost thirty years, there has been this rhythm, repeated until it becomes life. Through it, he has built this place, piece by piece, with the quiet force of his own hands and dedication. It was his new beginning following the collapse of his London restaurant due to excessive spending and gambling. But now he is tempted by another new beginning...
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2026
Language: English
Length: 2:09
UK
In 2025, interviewing was my biggest challenge.
I did my research, practised, and recorded myself mock interviewing.
Hundreds of applications later, I never got anywhere.
In An Interview, all that pressure is dramatised into one interview.
As the interviewer pushes deeper, something begins to unravel, and I'm left confronting a deeper question...
Renjie Wang (b. 2002, Beijing). With an academic foundation in sociology, Wang creates documentaries where deep understanding and reflection become part of his creative language. His work focuses on overlooked communities and marginalised topics, listening for what is articulated and what remains unspoken.
Wang is keen to explore new ways in service of better storytelling. His most recent film, To New Beginnings (2025), blends observational footage with immersive techniques, including sound-image disjunctions and point-of-view shots, to immerse the audience in the complex, up-and-down emotions of the retirement process.
Wang is currently based in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and is open to pursuing stories across the UK and beyond.
Education
Durham University
MSc Management
University College London
BSc Sociology
National Film and Television School
Short Course: Documentary Shooting
University of Cambridge Department of Sociology
Event photographer, videographer and editor
Relational Racisms in a Global Perspective Conference
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ICBC Standard Bank
Summer Placement Intern
Contact
info@renjie-wang.com
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