In December 2-9, 2024, Luang Prabang saw the return of its film festival, which had been renamed Blue Chair Film Festival 2 years ago. At the beginning of 2024, we wrote about our hopes that it would return and thankfully it did.
In total, 64 films from across Southeast Asia were screened, of which 14 were made in Laos. They spanned varying lengths (short and long formats), different genres and topics. It was a real mix, you're sure to find something to enjoy (even an animated short film was included).
Here's a list of the 14 made or filmed in Laos specifically. Where available, we've included their details and trailers. For the complete list of films screened this year, head over to Blue Chair.
Title: Naga Mysteries: Different Skies
Country: Laos
Director: Souliyong Sayavong
Released: 2023
Screened: 2024
Running time: 18min 15sec
About:
Trailer: None found online.
Title: Under Water
Country: Laos
Director: Siliyoupha Keosavang
Released: 2024
Screened: 2024
Running time: 5min 57sec
About: In this animated short film, a boy makes an unexpected marine friend and learns more than he wanted to know about what lies under the surface.
Trailer: None found online.
Title: The Blanket
Country: Laos
Director: Mitpasa Sitthihackpanya
Released: 2020
Screened: 2024
Running time: 18min 17sec
About: A young boy from a rural Lao village becomes responsible for his younger siblings and mother, when his father goes off to the city in search of work.
Trailer: None found online.
Title: Last Light
Country: Laos
Director: Somsouk Khounsavath
Released: 2024
Screened: 2024
Running time: 15min
About: A family confronts loss and summons the will to move on.
Trailer: None found online.
Title: Last Dance
Country: Laos
Director: Phisitxay Sengvongsak
Released: 2024
Screened: 2024
Running time: 13min 12sec
About: When the end comes too soon for newlyweds, the photographic record - and the memories - are all that remain.
Trailer: None found online.
Title: Khong Khuan Khoy Family
Country: Laos
Director: Somphavong Mithahack
Released: 2024
Screened: 2024
Running time: 14min 34sec
About: It’s time to meet the girlfriend’s family, but this is no ordinary household.
Trailer: None found online
Title: It's Me
Country: Laos
Director: Ka Xiong
Released: 2024
Screened: 2024
Running time: 9min 44sec
About: A man hunting frogs encounters an unexpected attacker in the dark of night.
Trailer: None found online.
Title: Box of Feel
Country: Laos
Director: Phongsavanh Saengakom
Released: 2024
Screened: 2024
Running time: 5min 41sec
About: A night security guard keeps himself awake through conversation with an unseen interlocutor. Trailer: None found online.
Title: Satu – Year of the Rabbit
Country: Laos
Director: Joshua Trigg
Released: 2023
Screened: 2024
Running time: 1hr 33min
About: Bo, an aspiring photojournalist, wants to escape her abusive father through admission to the University of Hanoi. Fleeing her home to find a good story for her application, she encounters a young boy named Satu, an orphan raised in a temple. Satu deals with uncertainty as a recent flood uncovers dormant bombs and causes a sudden relocation. United by purpose, they embark on a transformative quest to find Satu’s long-lost mother, chronicling their adventure for Bo’s application.
Trailer:
Title: Pencil Box
Country: Laos
Director: Thavisub Khamphoumee, Wravong Phrachanh
Released: 2023
Screened: 2024
Running time: 23min 16sec
About: The story of an absurdly peculiar high-school competition.
Trailer: None found online
Title: Nuanseng: Heart of Teacher
Country: Laos
Director: Somphong Phondy
Released: 2024
Screened: 2024
Running time: 1hr 32min
About: Sent to work in a remote village in rural Laos, Nuanseng is a young teacher who struggles to provide essential school materials to her students. For Nuanseng, these difficulties overlap with the added danger of UXOs scattered across the region that are still left from the bombardment of Laos in the 1960s and 1970s. As she tries her best to warn her students of the dangers, she also connects deeply with a local soldier who shares her passion for the wellbeing of the village and its community members.
Trailer:
Source: Blue Chair
Title: Story of Na
Country: Laos
Director: Soukthavone Thanomenon
Released: 2022
Screened: 2024
Running time: 15min 22sec
About: A young girl finds herself at the center of a social media firestorm after her actions are misunderstood; in the weeks to follow, she comes to question the impact of charitable giving and the lingering inequity around her.
Trailer: None found online.
Title: The Signal
Country: Laos
Director: Lee Phongsavanh
Released: 2023
Screened: 2024
Running time: 1hr 53min
About: A country girl comes to the city in search of her father, but secrets and mysteries will force her to re-evaluate when a family needs to stay together and when it needs to let go.
Trailer:
Title: Onlookers
Country: Laos
Director: Kimi Takesue
Released: 2023
Screened: 2024
Running time: 1hr 12min
About: Almost entirely free of words, Onlookers is a visual poem about travel and tourism in Laos, reflecting on how we all live as observers. Across the country’s dusty roads and tranquil rivers, we watch as elaborate scenes unfold and reveal the whimsical and sometimes disruptive interactions of locals and foreigners in rest and play. Drawn to spectacle, tourists swarm to magnificent Buddhist temples, the ordered rituals of monks, and sites of dazzling natural beauty, then recede like a passing tide, leaving Lao people to continue with their daily lives.
Trailer:
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