CHILDREN OF THE MIST
(Những đứa trẻ trong sương)
Vietnam 2021 | 90 Min. | engl. subtitled
Thu, 18-May-23 07:30 PM
Hà Lệ Diễm
Louis Hothothot was born as an illegal second child in China, his parents got severely punished and had to cope with bitter consequences. After staying for years abroad, the filmmaker returns to his family and engages in lifting and healing suppressed feelings of guilt and offenses.
“Wielding his camera with sometimes intimidating effect, Louis forces his family to confront their traumatic past, one that hides yet another ordeal. He probes them with sharp questions and remarks to drag them out of a distressing past. It’s painful, but necessary, because “if memories are frozen in the past, what can dissolve the pain?”” (idfa)
Not just dealing with the past, it is also about his own identity between acquired Western culture and clinging to his Chinese upbringing.
Louis Hothothot (Louis Yi Liu) is a film artist, writer, graphic designer. He was born and grew up in China, studied graphic design, animation and video art at the China Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing. He enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Dutch Art Institute in 2012. In 2017, he finished as Master of Film at the Netherlands Film Academy. His long feature debut FOUR JOURNEYS opened IDFA 2022. https://louishothothotart.wordpress.com/
Director, cinematography: Louis Hothothot
Editing: Chris van Oers, Louis Hothothot, Albert Elings
Music: Harry de Wit
Production, distribution: Pieter van Huystee Films