woo presents Feel Good Films: The Countdown

Welcome to woo's Feel Good Films, a collection of short films from young up and coming creatives and directors from around the globe. woo's Feel Good Films have been curated to make you feel happy, energised and creatively inspired.

The Countdown is a film by Jade Ang Jackman, who takes great joy of blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction. In this short, she profiles French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus as she explains the joy of self expression she gets from competing, the courage that drives her and what it’s like to be a woman operating in the field of combat sports.

Wearing masculine tailoring and shadow-fencing, Ysaora narrates a montage of her practicing and competing in fencing as well as getting pure joy from everything she does to come out on top - she achieved silver at Tokyo 2020. “Combat sports is really competitive and super masculine environment” she says: “They make us think we have to be in competition with each other as women. I wanted the young girls can wee women that look like them and are wining”

Despite the machismo associated with most combat sports, there’s a lesser-known vulnerability to the joy of lunging towards her opponents, she explains: “you’re taking the risk of going and try to touch. I like the fact I have to take a risk to touch.” Although the work is strenuous and dedicated, it doesn't means she's not multifaceted, and capable of softness.

This vulnerability, mixed with the power of her athleticism, shines through in this short, reminding us all of the boldness and thrill of taking on the risk of competing.