Gánh xiêc rong

Curated by Sarnt Utamachote

Gánh xiêc rong (Wandering Circus)
Nguyễn Việt Linh, Vietnam 1988, 87 min. Vietnamese with English subtitles, 35mm

Precious. Rare. For Sale
Lêna Bùi, Vietnam 2023, 13 min. Vietnamese with English subtitles

Introduced by Sarnt Utamachote. Followed by an interactive reading with Lưu Bích Ngọc

Wandering Circus is a story of the traveling circus troupe wandering through Central Vietnam, performing “magic” by summoning rice and happiness for the local tribes. This troupe of wandering entertainers (mobile unit) resembles that of Cold War propaganda practices, of mobile theater and cinema, which go to rural areas to spread information about nation-state and ideology. Made during the late 1980s Đổi Mới economic reforms (the director having studied cinema in Moscow), it stands as a critique against state-sanctioned ideas and promises of capitalism, modernity, and prosperity. The pre-film Precious. Rare. For Sale introduces us to essay montage on the relationship between cinema (especially from Vietnam) and natural resources, site of projection and extraction. The love story between the female stage performer and local tribal boy remains classic in its positioning of two opposing sides. It is this motif which attracted the youth section programmers of Berlinale (Kinderfilmfest) in 1991, where it premiered in Germany, before the 35mm reel arrived at DFF. 

It was screened as a part of un.thai.tled x KAUM Film Festival: Wandering Salon 2023 with performance/reading by Việt Lê.

After the screening, we will read text excerpt from another Vietnamese documentary filmmaker from the same era, Trần Văn Thủy, in which he navigates censorship in order to screen his film “Chuyện tử tế” (The Story of Kindness or How to Behave) at Internationale Leipziger Dokumentar- und Kurzfilmwoche (currently DokLeipzig) in the GDR 1988, the year Wandering Circus was made.

Thanks to Phạm Nguyễn Anh Tú (Saigon Experimental) for suggesting the film “Precious. Rare. For Sale”.

Lưu Bích Ngọc (she/her) is a Berlin-based cultural worker. Ngọc focuses on accessibility and empowerment in the arts and culture, specifically through transdisciplinary and intersectional approaches.