Vietnam & Thailand
Vietnam and Thailand Delegation
October 28–November 14, 2011
Filmmaker: Steven Klein
Delegate Expert: Melinda Levin
Cities—Vietnam: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City
Cities—Thailand: Bangkok, Khon Kaen, Mahasarakam, Chiang Mai
Delegate Report
By Steven Klein
Executive Summary
The American Documentary Showcase delegation to Vietnam and Thailand was enlightening, moving, memorable, and eye-opening for delegate filmmakers, local fellow artists, students and audience members alike. The juxtaposition of the two host countries was fascinating, and the coincidence of having the trip take place during both the Bangkok floods and Chiang Mai’s Loy Kratong Festival, made for especially rare learning and exchange experiences.
I. Vietnam
Hanoi: October 29–November 1
My journey began with a rest day, which Melinda Levin (director of New Frontier) and I used to plan our lessons for our workshops. That day of transition also allowed me to contemplate what it means to be an artist representative of the United States. In Vietnam, a country with state-controlled media and very restricted speech, this was a weighty and profound honor. This theme arose day after day, especially when talking with local filmmakers, who spoke, in private settings, about the challenges they faced trying to make “real” films that openly expressed things.
In the class structure that we developed, we showed clips from our films as a means to discuss the following: documentary as a form of storytelling, driven by story, character arcs, and themes; truth versus fact, or artistic creation versus journalism; characters vs. archetypes in documentary; the cinematic feel of a documentary; and American ideas, themes, and questions that arise in the films and whether or not they resonate with local values and experiences. Throughout the trip, discussions often centered on how both New Frontier, about sustainability and land management in the American West, and my film, Make Believe, about aspiring young magicians preparing for an international competition, connected with local audiences and how it was eye-opening to find strong commonalities across vast geographic and cultural distances.
The US Embassy representatives in Hanoi were Lan Ngo, program assistant, and David Moyer, deputy public affairs officer. They were a great team, and we dove quickly into learning about the venues for our various screenings and classes. We first led a large class of approximately 200 students at the esteemed Hanoi University of Theater & Cinematography, a school founded by the Soviet Union as the premiere arts training institute. The students were intelligent and thoughtful, and they followed our class closely, though discussion was limited because of the size of the group and because of some technical difficulties.
After lunch at Koto, an NGO that trains at-risk youth in life skills and restaurant management, we led a much smaller master class (approximately 30 film students) at the College for Social Sciences & Humanities in Vietnam National University, which was founded to bring the tradition of Western arts training to the country. Our discussion about film technique included frame-by-frame analyses of some sections of my film, Make Believe, to reveal some of our creative technique, which the students found exciting, especially when we talked about the parallels between creativity in documentary and subjectivity in the news media. This discussion rang profound in the state-controlled media environment … and, frankly, for US citizens, too, given journalism today!
Our second—and last—day in Hanoi included a morning class at the National Documentary & Scientific Film Production Studio, followed by a lunch for local filmmakers and specialists. The Vietnamese filmmakers were courageous, outspoken, brilliant, and inspiring. Sharing ideas and our films with them was a special experience. We finished our Hanoi programming with a public screening and discussion of Make Believe at the embassy’s American Center. The film was a hit; the young Vietnamese talked openly about the dreams they had for growing up in Vietnam and the excitement they felt at seeing coming-of-age stories from around the world. I even performed a bit of magic … and didn’t ruin US-Vietnamese relations.
Ho Chi Minh City—November 1–3
That evening, we traveled to Ho Chi Minh City, the bustle and energy of which were immediately apparent. Our team included Ted Diehl, deputy press and cultural attaché, and Pham T. Khanh Linh, cultural affairs assistant, both of whom were brilliant and responsive. The next packed day began with a press roundtable with dozens of Vietnamese journalists of all media, generating solid coverage over the next few days, followed by a rousing screening and laughter-filled discussion of Make Believe at the US Embassy for more than 200 audience members, ranging in age from 7 to 60. These included students and members of Zero+ project, Koto, the Action Magic Club, the College of Cinematography & Theater, amateur filmmakers, and disadvantaged children from various shelters in Ho Chi Minh City. Two wonderful Vietnamese magicians also wowed us with a brief show, a lovely moment of universality that crossed language and culture barriers. That afternoon, we visited the Arena Multimedia School, an innovative private arts school whose students made brilliant short films and animations. We participated as presenters for their end-of-year awards ceremony and led a Q&A about life as a professional artist and what to be aware of in the early stages of career development.
On our final day in Ho Chi Minh City, we learned that the Vietnamese government had cancelled our planned event, affirming our own sense of the ever-present power of the administration there—something the filmmakers had talked about openly. Ted and Pham rescheduled us under the auspices of the Zero+ Project, a private film training school, complete with its own 35mm camera body, the only one for student use in Vietnam. This accident was a happy one: the session was moving and engaging for us all, as we had a chance to watch student work in-depth and advise on how to improve it, and the students were moved and grateful to have our professional critique. They had also seen Make Believe the day before, so the discussion was fully informed in both directions. We concluded the day with lunch with local documentary filmmakers, followed by a screening of New Frontier, then a screening of Make Believe for 300 high school students at Laurence Ting School. We departed the next morning grateful and moved, and excited to begin the next stage in our journey.
II. Thailand
Bangkok—November 4–6
The Bangkok floods drew prominent international news coverage throughout our time in Vietnam, and we were relieved when our travels were confirmed and on schedule. We met José Collazo, public diplomacy assistant, and Dr. Kanittha Navarat, cultural affairs senior specialist. Our first day focused on settling in, navigating the sand bags that had been set up in preparation of the floods, and enjoying a lively interview with Khun Yo of MV Bangkok Channel, whose show is a popular youth news bulletin. Our second day’s programming was canceled due to the floods, so we spent the day finding and exploring the flooding, under the advice of the locals in and around our hotel. The Thai people’s positive spirit and warmth was evident everywhere, so much so that we doubted the floods could really be as bad as CNN had been reporting … until we saw them. Devastating.
Khon Kaen, Mahasarakam—November 6–8
On our third day, we headed to Khon Kaen in the rural northeastern region of Thailand, known as Isaan, and were met by the energetic Ajarn Noon, of Mahasarakam Univeristy, who is working hard to establish and grow an American Corner in Mahasarakam. After a night’s rest, we spent the next day at the university, screening both New Frontier and Make Believe and having in-depth discussions with our audiences before touring the campus; highlights of the tour included the dean’s passion project of restored indigenous houses on campus, and some Loy Kratong parade preparations.
The more rural environment of Mahasarakam made Melinda’s environmental films deeply relevant and resonant (Following José’s sage advice, she also screened her new film, River Planet.), and discussions about stewardship were passionate. People seemed interested in our willingness to discuss environmental problems in the U.S.
We returned to Khon Kaen the next morning, where Melinda led a class at Khon Kaen University, Faculty of Fine Arts. Following the class, we drove back to Bangkok.
Bangkok—November 8–10
In Bangkok, the floodwaters had moved closer, and the city felt muffled in expectation. We participated in an informative interview with Radio Thailand, and we visited the tourist sites that were still open. The next morning, we stopped by Stamford University, where I taught an international, largely English-speaking college class by screening Make Believe and talking about its cinematic techniques, once again generating lively discussion about the roles and responsibilities of artists versus those of journalists. We then headed back to the airport and flew north to our final destination: Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai—November 10–13
We were deeply fortunate to arrive in Chiang Mai during the indescribably beautiful Loy Kratong Festival, with its street festivities, amazing fire lanterns flying through the night sky, and candle-carrying rafts dotting the river. After a night experiencing the festival’s bounty—including launching our own lanterns—we had our busiest day in Thailand, with an early departure to teach classes at Chiang Mai Rajbat University and Chiang Mai University. Since we knew our students would be coming to the full, public screenings of both films the next night, we could focus on technical discussions and examples in our work and theirs. They were engaged, inquisitive, and bright.
We spent the afternoon with local filmmakers; Chiang Mai brands itself as an arts hub, and the artists we met were inspiring, and very eager to be introduced to Kickstarter and the idea of “crowdfunding” for their projects. (Finding private financing is challenging and a new idea in Thailand, and unlike in Vietnam, government funds are not readily available in Thailand.) We concluded the day with an interview on a local radio station, and we fielded many questions about our impressions of the burgeoning arts hub in Chiang Mai. We then enjoyed a second night of Loy Kratong.
The next morning, we had enough time to take a group tour to Doi Suthep, the old temple on the mountain overlooking Chiang Mai. We followed that with a trip to Orchard Jade, an amazing jade factory and store run by Nan Pongcharoenkula, who gave us a wonderful lecture and tour. Finally, we rested and dressed up for the big public premiere of both New Frontier and Make Believe for opening night of the American Documentary Showcase Festival, which would screen several Showcase films after we departed. A student-run film group helped to fill the 300-seat auditorium at Chiang Mai University, and produce the evening’s events, which included a bustling reception, a great screening, and a lively discussion. It was a brilliant conclusion to a wonderful trip.
Filled with gratitude, we flew back to Bangkok for a final day of packing and resting before the long journey back to the US. Hopefully, we opened some hearts and minds of Thai and Vietnamese audiences as much as they opened ours.