On-Site & Online
VDP: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University
August Letters
Screening INFO
- Date & Time
- 10/15(Sat) 13:00〜15:30
Online Screening
- Viewing Period
- 10/10(Mon)10:00〜16(Sun)23:59
Notes
The news of the call for submissions to the VDP came in August, when one of the filmmakers was commemorating her father’s death anniversary and
her cousin’s birthday. This became the reason for her to invite the other filmmaker to use their shared language (cinema) and contemplate on themes, in the context of the Covid-induced lockdown. This documentary contemplates the meaning of life and death blending personal, intimate stories and provides a reflection of contemporary life, family relations, and networks in contemporary Vietnam.
Story
This work is a correspondence between two female filmmakers through documentary. This is reminiscent of Japanese Renga poetry*, and the variety of representational styles that follow are mesmerizing. The work is based on a tabletop family tree made of grains of rice and beans, which clearly shows family members: from the grandparents' generation through to the present, using video, photographs, and a split screen format. The beans representing the deceased are covered with white powder as if they were coffins that were going to be buried. This is not just the practice of remote communication between artists divided by the Corona pandemic, but also one that express the VDP 2021’s theme, "Death and Life," and as such it has gone beyond being mere documentation and entered the realm of art.
*A Japanese form of poetry which is written with multiple poets.
Data
- Director
- Mai Huyền Chi Xuân Hạ
- Country
- Vietnam
- Year
- 2021
