Southeast Asian Documentaries at European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival

Hanoi: Sat 07 Jun 2014, 4 pm
National Studio for Documentary and Scientific Film
–
HCMC: Sun 22 Jun 2014, 2 pm
Hoa Sen University

From Goethe Institut:

You are invited to best of documentaries from Southeast Asia with films from Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia. This event is part of 6th European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival.

Mount A Mú Sung (Vietnam)
2013 // 24 mins
Director Lê Tuấn Anh

Language: Original with English Subtitles

A Mú Sung is a border-crossing location to the extreme north of Lao Cai Province, where the Red River enters Vietnam. The beloved place at the frontline of the country has witnessed many ups and downs, nurtured and challenged generations of soldiers defending the border. Many warriors have died there for the sovereignty of the country. Many teachers are persistently staying in remote mountainous villages to cultivate literacy in children of ethnic minorities including, among others, the H’Mong’s and the Dao’s.

There are stories such as the one of Mr. Ma Seo Páo, who has walked over 100 kilometers together with 27 other H’Mong families from Din Chin, Muong Khuong, to where the Lung Po stream enters the Red River to establish Lung Po 2 village in A Mú Sung, Bát Xát, Lào Cai; the dreamlike love story of teacher Nguyễn Vân Chi and lieutenant Trần Văn; or the sacred death of Lieutenant. Trần Văn Duẩn…

The film director will be present to introduce the film.

Where I go (Cambodia)
2013 // 56 mins
Director Neang Ka vich

Language: Original with English and Vietnamese Subtitles

San Pattica is a mixed Cambodian-Cameroonian. His father came to work in Cambodia in 1992-1993, during the first
Cambodian election after the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed. Since his parents had left home many years before, Pattica was raised by his grandmother. Challenges and difficulties forced his grandmother to bring Pattica to an orphanage in Phnom Penh. While exploring his self-identity, Pattica describes the discrimination he encounters in his daily life.

Behind the screen (Myanmar)
2013 // 35 mins
Director Aung Nwa i Htway

Language: Original with English and Vietnamese subtitles

A son dissects his parents’ marriage-they were film icons in 1960s Myanmar. It turns out the heartrending scenes they acted out on the silver screen are a pretty accurate reflection of their real lives. While the camera slides across the glamour photos from their heyday, the filmmaker looks on, entranced. He grapples with the incredible fame of his parents. Now that he is reconstructing their relationship, he sees the old film footage through different eyes-as if it might contain the answers he didn’t get as a child when his parents separated.

Another Colour TV (Indonesia)
2013 // 8 mins

Director: Yovista Ahtajida & Dyantini Adeline

Language: Original with English and Vietnamese Subtitles

Another Colour TV is a documentary that shows a family interaction that happens in front of their television and how television becomes a major way to escape from a reality that they are facing. This film captures a real situation of economic and cultural condition in an Indonesian suburban family, in which the mother is the central figure. Ironically, she is left alone with the television as her one and only friend in their home. She then tries to transfer to her family the values and opinions according to what she saw in the television.

Consider (Thailand)
2013 // 20 mins
Director Panu Saeng-Xuto

Language: Original with English and Vietnamese Subtitles

The teenager Tay is a ladyboy, or kathoey, as members of this relatively well-tolerated transgender group are called
in Thailand. They usually demonstrate a traditional female role and are sometimes called the Third Sex. Interviews with sympathetic fellow students and a teacher who is also a kathoey show the level of acceptance of Tay’s orientation at his Christian school Saint Joseph Mueang-Ake. But as his tearful mother explains, a single intolerant and violent teacher once drove him to attempt suicide.

Madame Phung’s last Journey (Vietnam)

2014 // 87 mins
Director Nguyen Thi Tham

Language: Original with English Subtitles

Bich Phung’s troupe of fairground workers, created in 2004, is named after their chief Mrs. Phung. Its 35 members come from various cities and provinces in the country. Most of them are cross-dressers, poorly educated, destitute, without family or profession. They perform all year long in different localities, ranging from Đà Nẵng to Cape Cà Mau. Their fairground attractions range from a lottery, a miniature train ride, an inflatable house, a merry-go-round, balloons and darts and a shotgun aiming at members performing songs and sketches.

The film director will be present to introduce the film.

Free entrance to all screenings.

Download detailed program and information about the films here ̣(PDF File).

Read more: 

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