Australian filmmaker and documentarian Shalom Almond first visited the remote town of Sapa in the highlands of North Vietnam as a tourist in 2003. She quickly became friends with four Hmong girls: Mang, street-smart and 11 years-old, sells Hmong embroidery on the streets to tourists; So, 16 years-old and searching for freedom, recently divorced from her Hmong husband, and working as a successful tour guide; Sho, 14 years-old, torn between life in Sapa and life in the village; and initially-shy La, 9 years-old, who quickly becomes the town’s youngest tour guide.
Over a series of return visits spanning several years, filmmaker Almond maintains contact with these girls and women, piecing together their personal stories of love, cultural identity, and freedom, and how they are learning to cope in quickly-developing, 21st-century Asia.
These young women represent the last stand against a quickly-disappearing Hmong way of life, and their stories capture a rare glimpse into lives in transition.
Oct 21 Free screening made possible by Target.
Co-presented by:
San Diego Arthouse Movies
Lao Hmong Family Association of San Diego
Hmong Student Association of San Diego
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