« Southeast Asian Films »
at the Smithsonian Institution
This autumn...
At the Smithsonian Institution's Freer + Sackler Galleries...
Seven cinematic gems from Southeast Asia!
Sleepwalking through the Mekong
Friday, Sep. 24, 2010 | 7pm
In the 1960s, Cambodian musicians blended traditional Khmer music with Western pop to create Khmer rock, a genre that has been revived by the Los Angeles-based band Dengue Fever. This film documents the band's tour of Cambodia, where they performed with local musicians, reconnected with charismatic lead singer Chhom Nimol's roots, and found a vibrant modern Cambodia far different from the tragic images so often associated with it.
(Dir.: John Pirozzi, United States, 2007, 68 min., video, English and Khmer with English subtitles)
The Golden Age of Cambodian Cinema
Sunday, Sep. 26, 2010 | 2pm
Join filmmaker and Cambodian cinema specialist Davy Chou (the grandson of famous Cambodian movie producer Van Chann) as he presents a history of Cambodian cinema from the 1960s and 70s. Chou has been tirelessly tracking down films and filmmakers from this period, during which Khmer rock and Khmer movies together created a lively, inventive pop culture that was tragically destroyed by the Pol Pot regime.
Adrift
Friday, Oct. 1, 2010 | 7pm
Today's Hanoi serves as the backdrop for this steamy tale of a precarious love triangle. When a young wife's husband proves unable to consummate their marriage, her best friend - who secretly desires her - pushes her into the arms of a seductive lothario. Seething with sexual tension, this sensuous feature from Chuyen Bui Thac "is a subtle, melancholy exploration of erotic angst and uncomfortable awakening" (Manohla Dargis,New York Times).
(Dir.: Chuyen Bui Thac, Viet Nam, 2009, 110 min., Vietnamese with English subtitles)
Co-sponsored by the Embassy of Viet Nam in Washington, DC.
The Little Girl of Hanoi
Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010 | 2pm
Filmed amid the rubble of a recently bombed Hanoi, this harrowing tale - of a girl searching for her soldier father after losing the rest of her family during a bombardment - is at once a powerful drama and a very rare look at life in the city during the Vietnam War. In the words of film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, "the film is remarkable not only for its sincerity and emotional directness, but for its accomplished visual style."
(Dir.: Hai Ninh, Vietnam, 1974, 72 min., B&W, video, Vietnamese with English subtitles)
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the following panelists attending: William Belding, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Frederick Z. Brown, visiting research scholar at SAIS - Johns Hopkins University, Bill Marmon, managing director of the European Institute's online journal, and Ron Nessen, journalist in residence at the Brookings Instution, and Jonathan Rosenbaum, an authority on world cinema
Mundane History
Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010 | 1pm
This feature is, on the surface, the story of the son of a wealthy family forming a relationship with his caretaker after being paralyzed in an accident. But this description hardly does justice to the film's mesmerizing atmosphere, intriguingly elliptical time scheme, and heady engagement with everything from Thai history to evolution to reincarnation and the birth of the universe. It all adds up to one of the most stunningly inventive films of 2009.
(Dir.: Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand, 2009, 82 min., Thai with English subtitles)
Co-sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia and the Embassy of Singapore in Washington DC.
Here
Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010 | 3pm
Selected for the Cannes International Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight, this trippy story of insanity and murder betrays its director's training as a visual artist, and has drawn comparisons to the work of David Lynch. After killing his wife, a mentally disturbed man loses the ability to speak and is committed to a mental hospital, where he forms a bond with an enthusiastic female kleptomaniac and is subjected to an experimental treatment known as "videocure."
(Dir.: Ho Tzu Nyen, Singapore, 2009, 86 min., English, Mandarin, Bahasa Indonesia, and Nepalese with English subtitles)
Co-sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia and the Embassy of Singapore in Washington DC.
The Rainbow Troops
Friday, Nov. 5, 2010 | 7pm
This adaptation of Andrea Hirata's popular novel is one of the most successful films in Indonesian box-office history. It tells the touching tale of three boys coming of age in rural Indonesia, while studying in a school that is on the verge of closing because of dropping attendance. Mixing humor and sadness, director Riri Riza manages to both address important Indonesian social issues and evoke the universal mysteries of childhood.
(Dir.: Riri Riza, 2008, 124 min., Bahasa Indonesia with English subtitles)
In person: Andrea Hirata, author of the novel the film is based on.
Co-sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia and the Embassy of Singapore in Washington DC.
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