Pa va hêng
Dust of Modern Life
Franziska von Stenglin
This film will also be available online on our VoD platform from March 29 to April 10, 2022. Please note: This film will only be available in Germany.
Liem carries his child next to his body for warmth, cooks for the family and works in the fields. But he is soon to leave the family for a few days. Together with other men of the Sedang, an ethnic minority in Vietnam, he heads for the jungle to recall a hidden way of life and feed on what nature provides.
Liem makes fires, hunts and moves through the woods. A dialogue in analogue film colours emerges between modern civilisation and fading traditions. While the silent hikers reflect on childhood and the imminent future of their own children, the nature surrounding them also has its own story. How long will these kind of rituals be possible? Will anyone remember them one last time before the fact that the Sedang once went into the jungle is forgotten forever?
Franziska von Stenglin tells the story from an observant and precise angle, without abandoning her role as director, and, perhaps by doing so, manages to create a film that resembles a painting. The camera captures a short period of time, containing signs of the past and present. At the same time, the latest adverts blare absurdly out of the loudspeakers, and mobile phones emit an unreal glow, looking as alien as they were to us once, but will never be again.
Guest: Franziska von Stenglin
This film has been nominated for the Audience Award endowed with 1,000 euro. Please vote after watching the movie.
You can find an overview of all nominated films here.
Franziska von Stenglin
Franziska von Stenglin wuchs in der Tschechischen Republik, in Senegal, Indien und Deutschland auf. Es folgte ein Studium an der London University of the Arts und der Frankfurter Städelschule. Sie arbeitet vor allem mit Fotografie und Video, aber auch mit Installationen und Skulpturen. Seit einigen Jahren beschäftigt sie sich mit der Bedeutung von lokalen Mythen und Überlieferungen für gegenwärtige soziale Beziehungen in verschiedenen Kulturen und Gesellschaften. Sie hat unter anderem in Mexiko, Brasilien und Vietnam gearbeitet und dort insbesondere Formen des Rückzugs aus den Anforderungen des Alltags untersucht. Pa va hêng ist ihr Langfilmdebüt.
Filme von Franziska von Stenglin
I’m A Stranger Here Myself 2015