“I need to do what I need to do. I need to dance. I need to work hard. That’s it,” says Bobbi Jene Smith in a new trailer for Elvira Lind’s “Bobbi Jene.” The award-winning documentary follows the American dancer at a turning point in her life. She’s become the star of a famous Israeli dance company but decides to return to the U.S. after 10 years working and living abroad. “I love being in the company,” Smith tells her mentor at the Batsheva Dance Company. “I love dancing for you. I just feel it’s time for me to make my own work.” But the trailer shows just how difficult making her own work — and leaving her old life behind — will be.

“When I met Bobbi five years ago I instantly knew that here was a film I’d like to pursue,” Lind told us. “I wanted to make a film about a woman around my own age who was facing the consequences of her choices as an artist — the loneliness, the struggle, and the doubt that comes with the lifestyle, but also the satisfaction you experience when you follow your instincts and find your path.” She explained, “Bobbi was strong and inspiring. She was unchained by taboos. She was honest and she was about to change her life dramatically. When we met it was like we had known each other for years. It was an easy choice to pick up my camera and begin shooting.”

Lind emphasized that she hopes the film will “help challenge the criteria of success.” “We are so focused today — obsessed, really — on making it big and loud rather than being brave and making it honest,” she explained. “The size of the stage we are on should not define how successful we are.”

“Bobbi Jene” made its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, where it was named Best Documentary Feature. Lind also took home the honor for Best Cinematography.

Lind previously directed “Songs for Alexis,” a 2014 doc about a transgender teen musician and his relationship with his girlfriend.

“Bobbi Jene” opens in New York September 22. It will hit Los Angeles theaters October 6.