Diem and "Children in the Mist"

Children of the Mist is the first Vietnamese film to be shortlisted (Top 15) for Best Documentary Feature at the 2023 Oscars. The film also won more than thirty awards and nominations at international film festivals, including the Best Director award at IDFA (Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival) - the world 's leading documentary film festival.

Ha Le Diem made a documentary in the Varan style - a direct cinema style, minimizing commentary. Photo: DA

Journey to find childhood

Ha Le Diem, the director and cinematographer of the above work, impressed me from the first time we met by two things: sincerity and vitality. The way Diem talks makes it impossible for the listener to stop, both gentle and full of joy. It seems that the three and a half year journey of continuously moving from Hanoi to Sapa (Lao Cai) or carrying the camera up and down the mountain following the character has never been tiring at all. It seems that the time of being busy with many different part-time jobs - from selling oranges, to "running around" in some projects of teachers, friends... - to earn a modest salary to make a living is nothing great. Perhaps, Diem is happy with the joy of making films so she accepts all the hardships with positivity and happiness.

Looking at the gentle young Tay ethnic girl, few people can imagine her perseverance, persistence and determination to the end. If she doesn't have equipment, she borrows it, from cameras to microphones and lenses. If she doesn't understand something, she asks, from teachers to colleagues. When she first had the idea, Diem admitted that she was still inexperienced, so she constantly "bothered" everyone, from calling, to texting, to sending emails to confide, share or wonder about this and that. Diem's first steps with Children in the Mist were like the name of the film - groping little by little. And even when she decided to stop filming, the female director born in 1992 still didn't know how to tell the story.

“I started the project with the question: “Why does childhood disappear?”, when I saw children playing happily together. My friends and I also had such an innocent and pure childhood. But when we finished 9th grade, my friends got married, leaving me with many troubles. I know that childhood does not last long and forever, so I wanted to make a film to preserve the most beautiful things of childhood. That is why, when I realized that Di had grown up, I knew I should stop even though I did not know if the film was good or not. Because I knew Di had her own world…”, Diem shared.

Children in the Mist not only goes through the mist - a "character" that never disappears in the remote Northwest region, where they are growing up every day - but also a journey through the broken world of childhood to learn how to grow up, face the troubles of the adult world as well as the pressure between traditional and modern values.

Children in the Mist competes in the Asian Film Category at the first Da Nang Asian Film Festival in 2023 (taking place from May 9 to 13). This category includes 12 films from the Asia- Pacific cinema, produced from January 2021 to January 2023.

“While making the film, I remembered that I was also a child born in the fog. I grew up in a very small village in the mountains of Northern Vietnam. My house was at the end of a valley, and it was normal for months without seeing a stranger. The road to school was small and narrow, disappearing every winter. I was afraid that the thick fog would cover the path and I wouldn’t be able to see, so I lied to avoid going to school. But my parents kept forcing me to go back to school, and I still had to muster up all my courage to cross that wall of fog. That fear is very similar to the fear we have when we grow up, when we don’t know what awaits us ahead,” Diem confided.

Accompanying the character, the little girl Ma Thi Di grew up, Diem also "grew up". The female director from Bac Kan learned to accept that life is not necessarily black or white, no one is completely good or bad, including herself. According to Diem, making films has helped her mature both as a person and professionally. Diem learned many things from the life around her, from the characters and their families, from each land. And Diem learned to be able to continue making new films...

100 hours of footage, 100 minutes of film

Three and a half years of filming, four months of translating Hmong into Vietnamese and English, six months of reviewing drafts and rough editing, and nearly two months of editing, color correction, and sound mixing in Thailand. 100 hours of filming were distilled into 100 minutes of captivating film from the first frame to the last. The film is full of poetry, but also full of anxiety. The development of Ma Thi Di from the age of 12 with a crisp smile in the middle of the misty mountainside to the age of 15 when the Hmong girl herself faced and chose the long-standing custom of "wife pulling" of her people, taking viewers through many different emotions. Sometimes laughing because of the innocence and cuteness of the character. Sometimes, breathless with excitement before the choices of adolescence...

To have those natural and authentic footages, Diem stayed with Di's family and "lived like a real H'Mong" - as the character's father commented. In 2017, Diem joined the Institute for Socio-Economic and Environmental Research (iSEE)'s trip to learn and compose about the lives of ethnic minority communities in Sapa. Picking Diem up at the bus station, Di's father took her straight to the field because it was the planting season and no one was home. He and the villagers were surprised to see the little girl enthusiastically helping with the rice planting. The locals felt sympathy for Diem from the first moments of meeting her because of her friendliness and enthusiasm.

But the first child to talk to Diem was Di. Di loved to tell stories, about school, about rice planting… Diem was the one who loved to listen. Just like that, one spoke enthusiastically, the other listened enthusiastically, the connection between the two girls became closer and closer. During the days staying at her parents' house, Di often invited Diem to go out with her friends. From here, the film's inspiration began to take shape... "Seeing the children playing together, I liked it so much that I turned around and showed it to them. When I wanted to make a film, I told Di that I wanted to film about her, to see how she grew up, how she matured. Di was also very curious, wondering how she would be different when she grew up. A year later, when Di was a little older, I told her more clearly that I wanted to make a film about childhood and the disappearance of those childhoods. Even though my Vietnamese was not fluent at that time, Di asked if the film could bring the current me back to the childhood me. I was shocked by the mature thinking of a 13-year-old child...".

From the beginning to the filming sessions, Diem always explained to Di and her parents about what she was doing. Di and her parents were very comfortable, taking Diem everywhere to film, from weddings, parties to funerals... in the village. Di also liked to invite Diem to go out with her, herd buffalo or do daily chores. Diem blended into the character's life, even though she didn't know the H'Mong language. As Di grew older, there were times when Diem had to tell her why she had to film that scene. There were times when she felt uncomfortable, and she refused. Respecting the character is probably one of the things that helps Diem always succeed with each film. Diem said, her way is to film with the character. Sometimes, they are the ones who suggest what the female director should do next.

Five years, a journey, but Diem's connection with Di and the people of that highland region is still continuing and opening up for Diem many new opportunities, beliefs and paths for her passion for making documentaries.

At the age of eighteen, Ha Le Diem chose the major of Journalism and Communication at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, just because of her simple desire to travel and explore many lands. However, while working at a television agency with a good salary, Diem did not hesitate to quit her job to study at the Varan Vietnam Documentary Filmmaking Camp 2016. From here, Diem decided to pursue the path of independent filmmaking.

Before Children in the Mist , Diem won the Silver Kite Award in 2013 with the short documentary Con di truong hoc , about a mother in the highlands infected with HIV from her deceased husband who tries to send her child to school. That year, the category was empty for the Golden Kite Award.

DUY AN

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