October 31, 2008, 7:00 P.M.
Luce Hall Auditorium (>click here for directions / link to campus map)
34 Hillhouse Avenue

FILM SCREENINGS
Premiering Three Documentaries from Vietnam

Discussants,
Film directors, Nugyen Huu Tuan and Phan Huyen Thu
and
Erik L. Harms
Department of Anthropology, Yale University



Letter from Dong Van, directed by Nguyen Huu Tuan
Streets and Sidewalks: The (Re)public space of Vietnam, directed by Tranviet Thuy
Father, Mother, we apologise, directed by Phan Huyen Thu

Synopses:

Letter from Dong Van, 23 minutes:  "Dong Van is a district 150 kilometers from Ha Giang, towering 1,200 meters above the sea level, making the dome of the entire country.  The largest ethnic group here is the Hmong.  Their hamlets scatter on high mountain slopes. When I first came here, I sometimes asked myself why the Hmong people had chosen to build their lives on such brutal lands. Their choice is still a mystery to me…"

Streets and Sidewalks, The (Re)public space of Vietnam, 10 minutes:   The film looks the use of streets and sidewalks as a public (and private) space and the people who make a living by having various occupations on the sidewalks. The film is part of a larger project but this segment provides viewers a glimpse of contemporary Vietnam in the market economy era.

Father, Mother,  we apologise, 37 minutes:  "A poor bricklayer, Tong Phuoc Phuc, from Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province, joins a group of Volunteers to collect dead fetuses and bodies of children, unclaimed, to bury them in a cemetery on top of a small hill, called Hon Thom, in the village of Xuan Ngoc, Vinh Ngoc District, Khanh Hoa Province.  The bricklayer has found a few surviving children, abandoned by their parents, brought them home and cares for them, hoping that their parents would come look for them one day and send them to schools…"

Sponsored by the Council on Southeast Asia  Studies at Yale University
With thanks to the Institute for Vietnamese Culture and Education (IVCE)