A film made to be seen is a film made to be judged. Vol 007 sits with what that does to the person who made it.
Rejection lands hard because the film is not a product. It is personal. The work carries the maker, so a no reads as a no to the maker. That is the first truth. The second is quieter and more dangerous. Selection feels like arrival, and the ego gets hungry on it. A win can pull a filmmaker off the work as surely as a loss can. Vol 007 holds both at once. The film has to be judged. The filmmaker has to outlast the verdict either way and get back to the next one.
Where films and filmmakers live on.