Tencent Video’s hit documentary series Marvelous Mom 2 has resonated deeply with audiences across China for its honest portrayal of motherhood, identity and personal growth. Behind the camera, one of the directors of the series is Yao Lu, a 2022 International Communications graduate from University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), who is now building a promising career as an independent documentary filmmaker.
After graduating from UNNC, Yao continued her studies at the School of Visual Arts in the United States, where her graduation documentary Lend Me Your Eyes won the prestigious Paula Rhodes Prize, the highest honour awarded by the School of Visual Arts to the graduating student who demonstrates the most outstanding achievement in creative work and academic research. That year, Yao Lu was the only student in the entire department to receive the distinction. Today, her work continues to focus on one enduring belief: that every ordinary life deserves to be truly seen.
Turning the camera towards the people behind the stories
In Marvelous Mom 2, Yao and her team shifted the focus away from parenting success and towards the inner worlds of mothers themselves. The series follows women navigating anxiety, self-discovery and personal transformation, capturing moments of vulnerability and resilience that have struck a chord with viewers.
For Yao, documentaries are not simply about recording events, but about understanding people in their most honest and emotional moments.
“A documentary should not only show what someone has done,” she said. “It should help us understand how they feel and what they are experiencing at that point in their lives, which will also reflect the changes of the world around them.”
This sensitivity to human stories has shaped many of her projects, from documenting university students chasing music dreams to portraying visually impaired individuals experiencing the world through touch. Her films are marked by warmth, empathy and a quiet attentiveness to lives that are often overlooked.
A passion first ignited at UNNC
Yao credits UNNC with nurturing both her creativity and her curiosity about people. During her studies, she served as editor-in-chief of Torchlight, a Chinese culture column project that highlighted the lives of ordinary people on campus — students passionate about birdwatching, mountain climbing, or novel writing.
She says the university’s international environment and emphasis on independent thinking encouraged her to observe the world with greater openness and critical insight.
After internships at ByteDance and other media organisations, Yao discovered documentary filmmaking during an internship in Shanghai. It was there she realised that the stories she most wanted to tell were those rooted in real human experiences.
Rather than following a conventional career path, she applied for the highly competitive Social Documentary programme at the School of Visual Arts, where only four students worldwide were admitted that year — Yao among them.
Carrying forward stories that matter
Now based between different creative projects and documentary productions, Yao continues to seek out stories hidden beneath the surface of everyday life — from performers and migrants to people living on the margins of large cities.
Even in an industry filled with uncertainty, she remains deeply committed to documentary storytelling.
“Documentaries hold a kind of irreplaceable value,” she said. “Someone has to continue telling these stories, and I hope to keep doing that.”
From the classrooms of UNNC to international documentary film festivals and major streaming platforms, Yao’s journey reflects the power of storytelling rooted in empathy, curiosity and human connection — and a belief that every life, no matter how ordinary it may seem, is worthy of being seen.
Published on 27 May 2026