Dear all, (some SAD news)
With a heavy heart, I’m writing this message…
Yesterday a new documentary caught my attention, called “Woman”, and after some research about the film I have to come to a heartbreaking conclusion.
The vision and concept of Becoming 30, the stories I wanted to tell of all the women I was going to visit, is similar to this new documentary which will be out today in theaters. Due to a really high risk of plagiarism, I cannot continue working on this concept as it is.
It hurts, for 2,5 years I put my soul, all my energy and money into this concept by researching, planning, buying gear, learning new skills and reaching out to women across the world and it was the one thing that kept me going for the last couple of years!
That’s not all…
The Corona virus is spreading rapidly across Europe and in my carefully planned route through 19 countries, only 1 is still not affected by this. I am on top of all the news, reached out to local people living in places I was going to visit to get a good picture what it will mean for me as a traveller. I don’t want to involve myself in hysteria, also I still haven’t given up my plans to actually go, but I do have to accept that there is a high risk in the next few weeks that I have to cancel my trip because of it.
So what now?
I have 35 days (well, if Corona doesn’t get any worse) to come up with a new concept before I leave the Netherlands. Thankfully the documentary “Woman” is mostly about women all over the world and their stories and NOT about the actual age of 30, so that’s a big plus for me and although I am so, so sad that I can’t continue with my original concept I do think I can turn this around and make something out of this situation.
The name Renée means Rebirth / Born Again and that’s exactly what I will have to bring into this project right now. I am not a person who gives up easily and that is a trait that will help me keep going making a beautiful documentary for you all. I will not give up reaching for the stars, my dreams and I’m going to take the next 35 days to work hard to come up with an even better concept to pursue.
I will keep you all posted, although I do need some time now to regroup and get the disappointment and sadness about this out of my system before I can do so.
Love you all,
Renée / Reneetje Peetje
