We Come Into Life – A Film by Síu Phạm
Thurs 31 Mar 2022, 07:30 pm
BHD Star
8th Floor, Vincom, 2 Phạm Ngọc Thạch, Hà Nội
Registration link
From the organizer:
We Come Into Life tells the story of the precarious world that two young adults find themselves in following the sudden death of their parents. In an invisible consternation, sister and brother try to find a way to survive. They lose their innocence and come of age amidst an intense urban rhythm of sadness and wilderness. The film captures this special moment of the young characters, faced with a reality of contradiction and tragicomedy aplenty. A strange energy of those hailing from the new generation – unstable, stateless, yet full of life.
“But if ‘things never turn out the way we imagine them to be’, it is indispensable to remind us that the transition to adulthood will be a product of a succession of luck, mistakes, and overflowing currents within the urban maze of the Vietnamese capital. Not subject to any form of control, Mai finds it difficult to keep a job. She is sad, wandering the streets of Hanoi and is invited to sit at the table with two Europeans who don’t ask for much. Vinh finally decides to leave his sofa – where he’s been forced to sleep, eat and watch TV – to find a job. This leads him out of the inner city, to the gate of a fortified house, the retreat of an elderly blind woman.
“The universe of the film is ever changing, floating, detouring. The dead invite themselves into the realm of the living, the living – like ghosts – turn to smoke, technology emerges as if out of the Middle Age, the natural cross paths with the hyper-modern. This cinematic style belongs to the family of constantly-shapeshifting works, operating on an indefinable level of artistic hierarchy.” (Nicolas Bézard, Filmexplorer, January 2021)
Programme:
07 pm – Doors open
07:30 pm – Film starts
* With subtitles in English
The screening is suitable to audience members of 18 or above
Proof of Covid-19 vaccination (at least two doses) required
We Come Into Life, drama, 2019, 84′
Written & directed by: Síu Phạm
Cinematography: Jean-Luc Mello, Võ Thanh Tiền, Nguyễn Trung Kiên
Edited by: Julie Béziau, Linh DN
Music: Trần Kim Ngọc, Zach Sch, Lý Trang, Atomic Paracelze
Sound: Adèle Beaulieu, Yatoni Roy Canty, Jerome Vittoz, Arnauld Soulier, Hoàng Thu Thủy
Featuring the acting of: Nguyễn Phương Linh, Ngô Xuân An, Ngô Trà Mi, amongst others
About director Síu Phạm
Síu Phạm was born in Hanoi. She studied at the University of Literature and Saigon University of Pedagogy, majoring in Philosophy. Moving to Switzerland more than 30 years ago, she studied art history, screenwriting at the Focal & Fonction Cinéma Suisse and film analysis at the University of Geneva. After graduating in theater and dance in Butoh, she worked in Geneva as a director of modern theater. With Jean-Luc Mello, Síu Phạm has made a number of films in Vietnam such as: That… Or This? (2011), Homostratus (2013), The Mountain Road (2017) and Into Life (2019). Homostratus and Mountain Road respectively won the Unique Vision and Special Jury Prize for Poetry Cinema at the Queens World Film Festival held in the US in 2018.
The screening forms part of Như Trăng Trong Đêm (Like the Moon in a Night Sky: A Perspective of Vietnamese Cinema), a series of events exploring Vietnamese cinema past, present and future, a pathway from today into film heritage.
Như Trăng Trong Đêm 3 takes place between 09 Mar – 03 Apr 2022, and is organised by Centre for Assistance & Development of Movie Talents (TPD), in close cooperation with Institut français de Hanoi – L’Espace, and with the support of the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, Purin Pictures, UNESCO Office in Vietnam (via the #hanoirethink project), Vietnam Film Institute, British Council in Vietnam (via the Digital Arts Showcasing fund), COMPLEX 01, Union Hub, Tách Spaces
Follow updates on event’s page.