ĐôcPhêt: A Moving Image Festival
05 – 12 Nov 2017
Nha San Collective and other locations (see details below)
From DOCLAB:
By all means, 2017 marks a special year.
In what has now transpired as the final edition of their annual festival before Hanoi DocLab house moves out of their almost ten-year base, DocFest 2017 doubles in scope. Introducing Hanoi ĐốcPhết – a whole week-long naughty-cousin’d programme running in multiple venues across the city in parallel to the core DocFest happenings at the Goethe-Institut. Beyond structural changes and unencumbered of institutional pressures, ĐốcPhết constitutes an exploration of DocLab’s future avenues, in which there might exist yet a larger role to play for grass-root, collective action.
By design or otherwise, a symbiosis exists between the festival’s SEACRN-led symposium – under the theme ‘Time, Space and the Visceral’ and the ĐốcPhết programme. The latter’s highlights include ‘The Kalampag Tracking Agency,’ an ambitious survey of over thirty eventful years of Philippine moving image and video works; Lau Kek Huat’s ‘Absent without Leave’ and Đoàn Hồng Lê’s ‘My Father the Last Communist’ – both delving into, from opposite sides, the legacy of Cold War in South East Asia, through personal memories of the filmmakers’ fathers; a selection of features and shorts from members of Harvard University’s Sensory Ethnography Lab, wherein the physicality of sound and its omnipresence in 21st century urban environments are made manifest through images of grit and destruction – treading a similar path, experimental documentary ‘We Don’t Care about Music anyway’ explores the madness of Tokyo’s noise music scene in relation to its surroundings; a retrospective on Au Sow-Yee, an artist working at the forefront of South East Asian moving image; the Vietnam premiere of ‘The Man Who Built Cambodia,’ a documentary on Vann Molyvann, whose practice came to define the architectural blueprint of post-independence Cambodia; and various found-footage works sprinkling throughout.
Beside the aforementioned strands, ĐốcPhết also features a five-channel expanded-cinema installation by photographer Jamie Maxtone-Graham at Nha San Collective; a sound concert/installation by sonic ethnographer Ernst Karel at VUI Studio; as well as an 11-hour event at Manzi wherein the feature film ‘Manamakana’ and a programme of shorts will play on loop.
Last but definitely not least, as per a DocFest tradition, a crop of new Vietnamese artist’s films will be showcased. Beside familiar names that have appeared in previous DocFest editions – Đỗ Văn Hoàng, Trương Quế Chi, Ngô Thanh, Tạ Minh Đức, Đoàn Hồng Lê and Nguyễn Trinh Thi – be sure to look out for the new faces: Hải Yến, Huệ Nguyễn, Lê Xuân Tiến, Thịnh Nguyễn, Lê Đình Chung, Nguyễn Song, Vi Đỗ and Trâm Lương.
PROGRAM
LOCATION: NHÀ SÀN COLLECTIVE
(TO BE STATED OTHERWISE)
*** SUNDAY 5.11, 17:00 AND 19:30 – LOCATION: VUI STUDIO, 3C Tong Duy Tan, Hanoi
SOUND CONCERT: NEW WORKS BY ARTIST/ SONIC ETHNOGRAPHER ERNST KAREL
Q&A WITH ARTIST AFTER SCREENING
*** TUESDAY 7.11, 11:00-22:00 – LOCATION: MANZI ART SPACE, 14 Phan Huy Ich, Hanoi
ĐÔCPHÊT IN LOOP
1. Sensory Ethnographic Lab (118’, 2013, dir. Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
2. VINA Experimenta (55’): Bad Luck of House Construction (2:30, 2017, Tạ Minh Đức) / Story from the Opposite Side (16:25’, 2016, Lê Đình Chung) / Hunger (6′, 2017, Lê Đình Chung) / A í a (4:44, 2016, Nguyễn Song) / Untitled (2’, 2017, Thịnh Nguyễn) / Water Dream (6:49, 2016, Nguyễn Hải Yến) / Untitled (9:34, 2016, Linh Khỉ) / Nằm xuống nghỉ ngơi (5:45, 2017, Lê Xuân Tiến)
*** TUESDAY 7.11 – FRIDAY 10.11, 11:00-17:00
‘IN A GREEN ISLAND’, 5-CHANNEL VIDEO INSTALLATION (20′, LOOP, 2017, JAMIE MAXTONE-GRAHAM)
*** TUESDAY 7.11, 17:30
ELEGY FOR THE TIME BEING (75′, 2017, Trâm Lương)
*** TUESDAY 7.11, 19:15
VINA ROMANCE: ARTIST FILM PROGRAM (90’)
Q&A WITH ARTISTS AFTER SCREENING
1. Vietnam Romance (19’, 2003, dir. Eddo Stern)
2. Destination Finale (9’, 2008, dir. Philip Widmann)
3. In Silence Things Speak (20:43, 2017, Trương Minh Quý)
4. Drowning Dew (40’, 2017, dir. Đỗ Văn Hoàng & Trương Quế Chi)
*** WEDNESDAY 8.11, 17:30
FOUND FOOTAGE SOUTHEAST ASIA
Q&A WITH MERV ESPINA & NGUYEN TRINH THI AFTER SCREENING
1. THE KALAMPAG TRACKING AGENCY: 30 YEARS OF PHILIPPINE MOVING IMAGE
67’ / Philippines / Various years / Various filmmakers, curated by Shireen Seno & Merv Espina
2. ELEVEN MEN (28’, 2016, NGUYỄN TRINH THI)
*** THURSDAY 9.11 – FRIDAY 10.11, 9:30-16:30 – LOCATION: GOETHE INSTITUT HANOI, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi
SYMPOSIUM ‘SPACE, TIME, AND THE VISCERAL IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN CINEMAS’
*** THURSDAY 9.11, 17:30
REALITIES: WORLD PREMIERE OF 4 DOCLAB FILMS (70’, 2017, PRODUCED BY JAMIE MAXTONE-GRAHAM)
Q&A WITH FILMMAKERS AFTER SCREENING
1. summer siesta: 6th hour counting from dawn (15’, 2017, dir. Nguyễn Hải Yến)
2. A death is a death is not a death (14’, 2017, dir. Nguyễn Thị Huệ)
3. Untitled.mp4 (15’, 2017, dir. Lê Xuân Tiến)
4. Frame of Traces (23′, 2017, Ngô Thị Thanh)
*** THURSDAY 9.11, 20:00
THE MENGKERANG PROJECT (90′, 2013-2015, BY SOW YEE AU)
Q&A WITH ARTIST AFTER SCREENING
*** SATURDAY 11.11, 13:00
INSIDE OUTSIDE
Q&A WITH FILMMAKER DOAN HONG LE AFTER SCREENING
1. Moon Over Da Nang (15’, 2015, dir. Bjorn Melhus)
2. My Father the Last Communist (69’, 2016, dir. Đoàn Hồng Lê)
*** SATURDAY 11.11, 15:00
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Q&A WITH FILMMAKERS AFTER SCREENING
1. The Men Who Builds Cambodia (37’, 2016, dir. Christopher Rompre);
2. From Now On (34’, 2017, dir. Vi Đỗ);
3. Everyday’s the Seventies (15’, 2018, dir. Nguyễn Trinh Thi)
*** SATURDAY 11.11, 17:00
DEATH IN ARIZONA (77’, 2014, dir. Tin Dirdamal)
Q&A WITH FILMMAKER AFTER SCREENING
*** SUNDAY 12.11, 13:00
ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE (83′, 2016, dir. Lau Kek Haut)
*** SUNDAY 12.11, 14:30
SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC LAB SEL 2
Q&A WITH FILMMAKER AFTER SCREENING
1. Demolition (62′, 2008, dir. J.P. Sniadecki)
2. Single Stream (23’, 2014, Pawel Wojtasik, Toby Kim Lee, and Ernst Karel)
*** SUNDAY 12.11, 17:00
WE DON’T CARE ABOUT MUSIC ANYWAY (80’, 2009, Cédric Dupire and Gaspard Kuentz)
ABOUT THE WORKS
‘IN A GREEN ISLAND’, 5-CHANNEL VIDEO INSTALLATION (20’, LOOP, 2017, JAMIE MAXTONE-GRAHAM)
With an observational camera and an ambient sound environment, the five screens frame individuals within a landscape that they at once inhabit and are yet not conscious of. The bodies, male and female, can be seen as both natural part of the landscape and vulnerable within it. There is disquiet in the ambience of it.
ĐÔCPHÊT IN LOOP
1. Sensory Ethnographic Lab SEL 1: MANAKAMANA (118’, 2013, dir. Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
Pilgrims make an ancient journey in a state-of-the-art cable car. Their rides unfold in real-time, highlighting interactions with one another, the landscape, and this strange new mode of conveyance. Through these encounters, the film opens a surprising window onto contemporary Nepali lives, propelled along by the country’s idiosyncratic modernization.
2. VINA Experimenta (55’)
A selection of short experimental films from young Vietnamese independent filmmakers.
1. Bad Luck of House Construction (2:30, 2017, Tạ Minh Đức)
2. Story from the Opposite Side (16’25’’, 2016, Lê Đình Chung)
3. No | Hunger (6′, 2017, Lê Đình Chung)
4. A í a (4:44, 2016, Nguyễn Song)
5. Untitled (2’, 2017, Thịnh Nguyễn)
6. Water Dream (6:49, 2016, Nguyễn Hải Yến)
7. Untitled (9:34, 2016, Linh Khỉ)
8. Nằm xuống nghỉ ngơi (5:45, 2017, Lê Xuân Tiến
Elegy for the time being (Trâm Lương, 2017)
A documentary film project inspired by Huỳnh Sanh Thông – the first Vietnamese scholar to arrive at Yale University in the 1950s. The film moves through the alleys of the life of Huỳnh to weave together moments that glimmer and sink, waiting to be told, and retold.
VINA ROMANCE: ARTIST FILM PROGRAM
1. Vietnam Romance (19’, 2003, dir. Eddo Stern)
A peculiarly American memory-trip, one in which the legacy of a gruesome war has become indistinguishable from pleasurable, if mythic-tragic, entertainments.
2. Destination Finale (9’, 2008, dir. Philip Widmann)
A man travels Europe. Shortly thereafter, American troops enter the ground war in Vietnam. Destination Finale is an original 8mm amateur film, shot in 1964, found in Saigon in 2005 and edited by Widmann with a sense of drama.
3.In Silence Things Speak (20’43”, 2017, Trương Minh Quý)
A wooden wardrobe burns. A man and a woman look at a seemingly cancerous lump on the man’s body reflected in the wardrobe mirror. The light is weakening and the fire is still burning.
4. Drowning Dew (40’, 2017, dir. Đỗ Văn Hoàng & Trương Quế Chi)
A six-part experimental work on posthumous metamorphosis, set in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and executed with both poetry and criticality.
FOUND FOOTAGE SOUTHEAST ASIA (MERV ESPINA & NGUYEN TRINH THI)
1. Eleven Men (28’, 2016, Nguyễn Trinh Thi)
Eleven Men is composed of scenes from a range of Vietnamese classic narrative films featuring the same central actress, Nhu Quynh. The film’s text was adapted from “Eleven Sons”, a short story by Franz Kafka published in 1919, which begins with a father’s declaration: “I have eleven sons”, then describes each one of them in acute and ironic detail.
2. The Kalampag Tracking Agency: 30 years of Philippine moving image (67’, various years, various filmmakers, curated by Shireen Seno & Merv Espina)
Overcoming institutional and personal lapses to give attention to little-seen works—some quite recent, some surviving loss and decomposition—KALAMPAG TRACKING AGENCY collects loose parts in motion, a series of bangs, or kalampag in Tagalog, assembled by individual strengths and how they might resonate off each other and a contemporary audience.
Featuring some of the most striking films and videos from the Philippines and its diaspora, this is an initiative that continues to navigate the uncharted topographies of Filipino alternative and experimental moving image practice.
REALITIES: SEEN, FELT, MADE AND FOUND (WORLD PREMIERE OF 4 DOCLAB FILMS, 2017, PRODUCED BY JAMIE MAXTONE-GRAHAM)
Four new films from DocLab offer discreet reflections on the nature of the real and the nature of the imagined and question which might be more permeable towards understanding.
1. Summer siesta: 6th hour counting from dawn (15’, 2017, dir. Nguyễn Hải Yến)
2. A death is a death is not a death (14’, 2017, dir. Nguyễn Thị Huệ)
3. Untitled.mp4 (15’, 2017, dir. Lê Xuân Tiến)
4. Frame of Traces (23′, 2017, Ngô Thị Thanh)
THE MENGKERANG PROJECT (2013-2015, BY SOW YEE AU)
Mengkerang project was initiated by Au Sow Yee in 2013, lasting until 2015. Through these series of works, Sow Yee reexamines the intermingling psychic geology and historical borders of Malaysia, through an imaginary place, Mengkerang.
INSIDE – OUTSIDE
1. Moon Over Da Nang (15’, 2015, dir. Bjorn Melhus)
Towards the end of the 1960s the world witnessed the war in Vietnam through televised war spectacles. Around the same time, American astronauts looked down on Earth from the moon for the first time. MOON OVER DA NANG draws these two contrasting media events together in an experimental quest to come to grips with the country’s post-socialist present.
2. My Father the Last Communist (69’, 2016, dir. Đoàn Hồng Lê)
The director’s father is now in the beginning of Alzheimer and only remembers the memories in far past. The present life is going on, but he stops with memories of his time. This is a story about a disappearing spirit of the communist generation and the crisis of faith in Vietnam today.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
1. The Men Who Builds Cambodia (37’, 2016, dir. Christopher Rompre)
A narrative documentary exploring the life of Vann Molyvann, an architect whose work came to represent a new identity for a country emerging from independence, and whose incredible story encompasses Cambodia’s turbulent journey as a modern nation.
2. From Now On (34’, 2017, dir. Vi Đỗ)
From now on attempts to trace back to the history of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong and the relationship between politics and the dilemma of refugee crisis with the correspondent immigration policy of Hong Kong towards Vietnamese nationals today. The film starts with a secretly recorded conversation between the filmmaker and an Immigration officer, unfolding a historical narrative of Vietnamese boatpeople, from early 1970s until the year 2000.
3. Everyday’s the Seventies (15’, 2018, dir. Nguyễn Trinh Thi)
Different versions of the same history – one personal, another depicted by cinema, while the third described by the media — were laid on top of each other and collapsed.
Death in Arizona (2014, dir. Tin Dirdamal)
A futuristic documentary of lost love and a tale of a dying civilization. It is an autobiographical portrayal of a man who returns to his lost love’s empty apartment in pursuit of answers. The distant voices of a tribe in Arizona that survived a meteorite strike make their way into the third story apartment of this obscure Bolivian city.
Absent without leave (2016, dir. Lau Kek Haut)
The story begins with a man’s portrait, which has been hanging for more than 30 years in an old wooden house where I was born and grew up in Perak, Malaysia. Eventually I found out he is my grandfather, who sacrificed his life fighting for Malaysia’s independence and decolonisation, but his and his comrades’ stories are excluded from history.
SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC LAB SEL 2
1. Demolition (62′, 2008, dir. J.P. Sniadecki)
A very strong but rarely seen earlier work by JP Sniadecki, who later made FOREIGN PARTS (with Véréna Paravel), PEOPLE’S PARK (with Libbie Cohn), THE IRON MINISTRY, and most recently EL MAR LA MAR (with Joshua Bonetta), Chaiqian (Demolition) is a portrait of migrant labor, urban space, and ephemeral relationships in the center of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in western China.
2. Single Stream / Dòng đơn (23’, 2014, Pawel Wojtasik, Toby Kim Lee, and Ernst Karel)
Single Stream takes a close look at the problem of waste, through a visual and sonic exploration of a recycling facility. Viewers enter one of the largest of these materials recovery facilities in the US. The interwoven movements of human and machine produce sounds and images that are overwhelming, but also beautiful, and even revelatory.
We don’t care about music anyway (2009, Cédric Dupire and Gaspard Kuentz)
An experimental documentary associating and confronting the work of 8 musicians from Tokyo’s new music scene with the Japanese society. Rather than a film about music, the directors conceive it as a film about sound and its perception. A diverse, ultra-modern cityscape meets ancient traditions in creative youths.
Free of charge
For more details regarding the schedule, please go to:
. Website of DocFest & ĐôcPhêt 2017
. Event page of ĐôcPhêt2017
| Nha San COLLECTIVE 15th floor, Hanoi Creative City Building, 01 Luong Yen, Hanoi Website: nhasan.org Email: [email protected] Tel: (+84) 098 890 7300 Opening hours: 3 – 7 pm, Wed – Sun (closed on Mon & Tue) |
