1. PROJECT INTRODUCTION
 

 

The Festival is a documentary about the intricacies of the parent-child relationships, set against the backdrop of the Vietnamese celebration of the Lunar New Year. The story is centred around an elderly couple who, throughout 3 days of the festivities, must come to terms with the absence of the sons whom they revere as the family pillars and the presence of the daughters whom they shrug off as giveaways to their in-laws.

Unlike typical documentaries which forgo aesthetics in favour of empirical objectivity, the film is envisioned to be a more evocative and less informative representation of the world, incorporating imageries and dialogues which carry double meanings within themselves. We seek to invite the audience to read between the lines and to understand the essences of the characters not through their actions but the lack thereof.

The characters under observation are the grandparents of our director – Jay, on his maternal side. He sees them only once per year and therefore has never been in on the 'family lore'. This film will be a journey of discovery and reconciliation not only for himself and his family members, but also for the global audience who are unfamiliar with the Vietnamese – a people with distinctive complexities, beyond the unhumanising war films.

The Festival is a graduation project to be produced within the scope of the Audiovisual Media 2023/2025 curriculum at the Baltic Film, Media & Arts School (Tallinn University).
 

2. THEME & SUBJECTS

The lenses through which we will be examining the characters and their interactions:

 

Click HERE to see some of our early-development materials.
 

3. REFERENCES

Our filmmaking approach is partly inspired by fiction films which are documentary-esque in the ways they explore the human condition and highlight the beauty of the mundane.

 

4. BUDGET BREAKDOWN

What we need your financial supports for:

 

5. OUR CREW

Our small crew consists of the most dedicated members who have also been working on professional sets outside of school projects. We have the technical skills and life experiences necessary for bringing this production to its fullest potential possible.

Producer, Writer-Director & Editor: Jay Ngo
Cinematographer: Otto Färm
Sound Designer: Vincent Roy
Colourist: Kasperi Leppänen
Graphic Designer: Huy Phung
Production Assistants: Olivers Keiss, Duong Nguyen
Thesis Supervisors: Marianna Kaat & Mart Raun