A scene from The Unseen River directed by Pham Ngoc Lan (Photo courtesy of MEKONG 2030 project)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The UnseenRiver directed by Pham Ngoc Lan will be internationally premiered at thePardi di domani shorts competition of the Locarno Film Festival which will beheld from August 5-15.
The Unseen River will be available online, free ofcharge, on platforms of the LocarnoFilm Festival with unrestricted worldwide access in order to reach the widestpossible audience.
The short film tells the story about Nguyen Minh Chau, a woman travelling upstreamto find a lover she hasn’t seen in 30 years, and is told alongside a story of ayoung couple travelling downstream to a strange temple in search of a cure forchronic insomnia.
Through carefully crafted cinematography and dialogue, thefilm examines the metaphorical connection between the Mekong River, time andsleep.
Lan isthe director and producer of short films such as Blessed Land (2019), Another City ( 2016)and The Story of Ones (2011).
“The message of my film is the relationship of people to theriver,” said Lan.
“It affects the way that people think, not only from thepresent, but also from the past. The attachment to the river is not somethingwe can separate.”
Produced by the Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF), TheUnseen River is one of five short films from the MEKONG2030 anthology, a collection of narratives that envision the future of theMekong River from different national and cultural perspectives within theregion.
It will also be screened with MEKONG2030 online at the Krakow Green Film Festival from August 16-23, Kota KinabaluInternational Film Festival from September 5-12 and in theatres at Five Flavours in Warsaw from November 25to December 2.
MEKONG 2030 anthology was born out of an urgent need toshine a light on the challenges faced by the Mekong River. Set in the year2030, the narratives aim both to entertain and inspire audiences to activelyprotect this critical life source.
The other four short films in MEKONG2030 include Soul River (director Kulikar Sotho,Cambodia), The Che Brother (director Anysay Keola, Laos), TheForgotten Voices of the Mekong (director Sai Naw Kham, Myanmar)and The Line (director Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand)./.
VNA
