Forgetting Vietnam

Trinh T. Minh-ha / United States / 2015 / 90 min.

synopsis

The origins of the “Land of Ten Thousand Springs” – as the territory of present-day Vietnam was once known – are shrouded in several ancient myths about land and water. It is precisely the dialogue between these two elements that forms the basis of Trinh T. Minh-ha’s essayistic film. Through footage shot in 1995 and 2012, the film gives a voice to local people, communities and war veterans of the devastating Cold War conflict. Their memories intertwine with images of everyday life in contemporary Vietnam, creating a multi-layered portrait of a country straddling the boundaries between tradition and change, memory and oblivion, and solid ground and flowing water.

biography

Trinh T. Minh-ha is a filmmaker, writer and composer, and Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work includes nine feature-length films, which have been honored with over seventy retrospectives around the world, large-scale installations and numerous books, including Elsewhere, Within Here (2011).