Their Paths Ran in Parallel Across the Miles

Followed by a conversation with Quế aka Nguyễn Đức Hùng (in English)

Người kiến (The Ant-Man)
Việt Vũ, Vietnam, 2018, 27 min. Vietnamese with English subtitles

Thân Thể Rừng Thiêng (Landscape of Our Body)
Trâm Anh Nguyễn, Vietnam 2024, 19 min. Vietnamese with English subtitles

Người Chó, Chó Người (Man Dog, Dog Man)
A Sông Collective, Mai Huyền Chi, Vietnam 2023, 6 min. No dialogue

Bồng Bềnh (Buoyant)
Đoàn Thanh Toàn, Nguyễn Lê Hoàng Phúc, Vietnam 2023, 20 min. No dialogue

Nước Lành Mang Bệnh (Healthy Water with Diseases)
Quế aka Nguyễn Đức Hùng, Vietnam 2024, 6 min. Vietnamese with English subtitles

Screening in collaboration with Leipzig Art Residency (LIA), Cinema Con Nhà Nghèo, and A Sông.

Moving through memories and shifting forms, these four short films trace the thresholds between humans and non-humans, the spiritual and material, past and present. The Ant-Man portrays the search for freedom, depicting the daily life of a homosexual man whose body is inhabited by ants. Landscape of Our Body is a journey of the sacred and the corporeal through a meditation between deviant bodies and nature. In Man Dog, Dog Man a chain of surreal events links a man walking a dog, a nose that turned into a DJ, and villagers who metamorphose through dancing. Buoyant is a tale of a fisherman and a mermaid that draws aesthetic inspiration from the drag community in Sài Gòn, where eroticism, fantasy, and joy serve as strategies of resilience. Healthy Water with Diseases captures the lingering ghosts of war through mosquitoes. Initially screened by Cinema Con Nhà Nghèo and A Sông Collective at Nổ Cái Bùm Festival 2024, the films ultimately ask the question if understanding is necessary to feel connected. (TO)

Quế (aka Nguyễn Đức Hùng) is a self-taught visual artist and independent producer from Đà Nẵng. His practice explores the influence of urbanization on the human and natural environment, generational trauma and post-heritage legacy in social exchange time. Currently he is an artist resident at LIA Leipzig.

A Sông founded in 2019 in Da Nang-Quang Nam (Central Vietnam), A Sông is an interdisciplinary collective of artists, performer, curator, and filmmakers committed to nurturing a grassroots art community in Central Vietnam. By organizing and curating events such as art festival, screening program, and communal gathering, A Sông emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between artistic expression and the non-art aspects of life. This approach situates the collective at the intersection of art, friendship building, community development, and socio-environmental discourse.

Cinema CNN Cinema Con Nhà Nghèo (Cinema of the Peasants) is a program that organizes screenings and discussions for filmmakers, film lovers, and those who are interested and support low-budget or independent filmmaking practices that diverge from the mainstream of contemporary Vietnamese cinema. CNN is a regular program under A Sông based in Da Nang City. CNN was initiated by filmmaker Mai Huyen Chi and co-curated by filmmaker Le Ngoc Duy.