LOVERS GOES INDUSTRY 2022
PHUC SINH
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ORIGINAL TITLE: Phục Sinh
ENGLISH TITLE: Resurrection DIRECTOR: Duc Doan PRODUCTION COMPANY: Enlightenment Pictures PRODUCERS: Van Anh Doan, Giang Phuong COUNTRY: Vietnam RUNNING TIME: 30' GENRE: Fiction STATUS OF THE PROJECET: Completed Goals at Lovers Goes Industry: Sales Agents, Festival Screening DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY Birthday (2012) – Short Early spring (2015) – Short Resurrection (2022) - Short ONE-SENTENCE SYNOPSIS A desolate HIV-positive man prays for a miracle, and miracle does happen in the form of a devoted lover. SYNOPSIS Since his lover commits suicide after contracting HIV from him, Thien, a seropositive gay man isolates himself from society, lets his health go and prays daily to Mother Mary for forgiveness of his guilt. Little does he know that his prayer has been secretly answered in the form of a young wanderer whom he encounters. After they sleep together, the stranger stays with him despite knowing his health status. DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT I wrote ‘Resurrection’ after hearing the story of a close friend of mine, who, after contracting HIV from a vengeful spreader, became isolated and refused to love anyone else. From my friend’s story, I was intrigued by contemporary Vietnam’s LGBT generation who were infected with HIV. And I was astounded to find out that numerous Vietnam’s young LGBTs, many as young as in their teenage, have been afflicted with guilt and depression after their unexpected seroconversion, many of whom chose suicide after continuing with life. ‘Resurrection’ is my personal dedication to those young lost souls. I depict three young characters who walk, act, eat and have sex as if they no longer live. They carry on their lifeless existence away from society in the midst of a verdant nature. Juxtaposing them against nature through long, ponderous takes, I look for the feeling of alienation of the human’s suffering mind from the true beauty of life. With these lifeless characters, I center the film around the hope for a ‘resurrection’, as the HIV-positive man fervently prays to Mother Mary that his sick soul could be healed again. The film asks: could he find the miracles to resurrect himself? In finding the form of expression, as a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner who believes that this world is a manifestation of the Buddhas’ compassionate energy, I construct cinematic images as moving thangkas, the Tibetan icons with vibrant, contrasting colors. I was also inspired by the colors of El Greco’s paintings, whose bold colors expressed the spiritual vibration of the human soul, as well as the music and poetry of other gay icons in history - Franz Schubert and Arthur Rimbaud. DIRECTOR’S BIO Duc was born in Vietnam and studied philosophy and film. He’s an alumnus of Tokyo Talents in 2016. Both a filmmaker and a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner in real life, he makes films as a medium to express his spiritual worldview. PRODUCER’S BIO Van Anh Doan takes film producing as a place where she expresses her passion for the arts through molding indie directors’ artistic vision into reality. In her own line of work, she’s a marketing director for a multinational company. Giang Phuong is a Vietnamese producer who is fascinated by the art of motion pictures and throughout 5 years, she has worked with indie directors in Vietnam to tell unique stories. She is also a producer of commercial projects in Vietnam. PRODUCTION COMPANY With the aim of crafting insightful messages through images, Enlightenment Pictures is an independent film company in Vietnam that focuses on the creation of spiritual cinema. |
