Thao Nguyen Phan, Becoming Alluvium (2019)

This film is part of the exhibition Shoreline Movements, a program of non-fiction films curated by Erika Balsom and Grégory Castéra (Council), in a space designed by Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, for the Taipei Biennial 2020.

As an opening title puts it, Becoming Alluvium is a work “inspired by the beauty and suffering of the Mekong.” Drawing on Lao and Khmer folktales, as well as the writing of Italo Calvino, Marguerite Duras, and Rabindranath Tagore, Phan crafts a poetic allegory that addresses loss, reincarnation, and metamorphosis across three chapters with the river at their heart. The devastating collapse of a dam, everyday environmental degradation, and the desires of a princess to wear jewellery as beautiful as the monsoon dew come together to form a delicate evocation of the region and its syncretic culture.

Thao Nguyen Phan
Becoming Alluvium
Film, 16:52
2019

A MOVING IMAGE BY

Thao Nguyen Phan

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Truong Cong Tung

WITH SCRIPTS BASED ON

Lao folktale
Khmer folktale
L’Amant (The Lover) by Marguerite Duras
Le città invisibili (Invisible Cities) by Italo Calvino
The Gardener by Rabindranath Tagore

ANIMATION

Illustrations by Louis Delaporte from
Voyage d’exploration en Indo-Chine: effectué pendant les années 1866, 1867 et 1868 by Francis Garnier
& Voyage d’exploration en Indo-Chine, Le Tour du Monde, Paris: 1870-3 by Francis Garnier

CAST

Truong Minh Tuan
Truong Trong Hieu

VOICE OVER

Truong Que Chi
Recorded by Hoang Thu Thuy

MUSIC

Unknown parks unknown cities by Maria Papadomanolaki & Nhung Nguyen
Here comes the acoustic season by Hidekazu Imashige & Nhung Nguyen

CAMERA OPERATOR

Ta Minh Duc

SOUND DESIGN

Tiikerie Pham

COLOR GRADING

Bui Cong Anh