”Fifth Cinema”: A Film by Nguyễn Trinh Thi and Talk with Trần Ngọc Hiếu

Thu 11 Apr 2019, 7 pm
DOCLAB
No. 11, sub-lane 12, lane 378 Thuy Khue, Hanoi

From DOCLAB:

Hanoi DocLab’s “Around the World in 80 Days: Artists Films / Moving Image” program is pleased to present Nguyen Trinh Thi’s latest work entitled “Fifth Cinema” and a post-screening dialog with Tran Ngoc Hieu on the themes that the film suggests, including ecology and neo-colonialism.

Trần Ngọc Hiếu will discuss with Nguyễn Trinh Thi about several issues suggested by “Fifth Cinema” as well as her other recent films including “Letters from Panduranga” (2015).

On the work:

Fifth Cinema begins with a quiet statement “I am a filmmaker, as you know.” That text and what follows, by Maori filmmaker Barry Barclay, who coined the term ‘Fourth Cinema’ to distinguish Indigenous cinema from the established ‘First, Second, and Third Cinema’ framework, provides structure to Nguyen’s hybrid essay film that moves on multiple cinematic and topical terrains. Eschewing voice in favor of the written word and juxtaposing moving images of the filmmaker’s own daughter with archival images of Vietnamese women seen through the lens of the “ship’s officers”, the film slowly leads the viewer through a narrative of colonialism, indigeneity and cinematic limitations in representation.

World Premiere: The 9th Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art (APT9), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery Of Modern Art (24 NOV 2018 – 28 APR 2019)

About the artist and dialogue partner:

Nguyễn Trinh Thi is a Hanoi-based moving image artist. Her diverse practice, transcending the boundaries between cinema, documentary and performance, has consistently engaged with memory and history. Her works have been shown at international festivals and art exhibitions including Jeu de Paume, Paris; CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux; the Lyon Biennale 2015; Asian Art Biennial 2015, Taiwan; Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial 2014; and Singapore Biennale 2013.

Trần Ngọc Hiếu has been working as a lecturer at the Hà Nội National University of Education since 2001 and earned his PhD Degree in Literary Theory in 2012. His research interests include literary theories, contemporary art and Vietnamese modern literature. He both writes and translates academic texts and his work has been published in the Literary Studies Journal (Nghiên cứu văn học), the Journal of Foreign Literature (Văn học nước ngoài) and the Culture and Arts Journal (Tạp chí Văn hóa nghệ thuật).

About the program:

The screening and artist talk is a part of Hanoi DocLab’s “ImageLab 2018” project sponsored by the Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF) of the Danish Embassy in Vietnam.

*Cover image: from “Fifth Cinema”, photo by Jamie Maxtone-Graham

Free entry

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