March
30
MÁ SÀI GÒN (MOTHER SAIGON) by Khoa Lê – In competition at VISIONS DU RÉEL and HOT DOCS
MÁ SÀI GÒN (MOTHER SAIGON) by Khoa Lê
In competition at VISIONS DU RÉEL and HOT DOCS
Credit © Danny Taillon
Montreal, Tuesday, March 28, 2023 – Les Films du 3 Mars and Les Films de l’Autre are proud to announce that MÁ SÀI GÒN (MOTHER SAIGON), the second feature film directed by Khoa Lê, will be screening in competition in two prestigious international and Canadian festivals. Its World Premiere will take place at Visions du réel, followed by its North American Premiere at Hot Docs. Between marginality and tradition, the film reveals the reality of the LGBTQ+ community in Vietnam while questioning the source of one’s attachment to their society.
MÁ SÀI GÒN will screen at Visions du réel in Nyon (Switzerland) in International Competition in the Burning Lights section, a place of new writing, research, as well as narrative and formal experimentation. The screenings will take place on April 22 and 29 at Capitole Leone, with the filmmaker in attendance.
The film will continue its route at the Hot DocsCanadian International Documentary Festival, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The film will be shown on May 2 and 5 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, in official competition in the Canadian Spectrum section of the festival, and will also be eligible for the Audience Award.
Filmmaker Khoa Lê will participate in the Visions du Réel and Hot Docs festivals for the second time, as his feature film debut BÀ NÔI (2013) was also presented in competition at those two festivals. That first feature also won the Inspirit Foundation Pluralism Prize at Hot Docs. Khoa is a Vietnamese-born multidisciplinary Quebec filmmaker and artist. His films address plural identities, intimacy, and the human experience in all its diversity.
Synopsis
In Saigon, family culture carries on as it has for centuries, even when blood ties are broken. Through a mosaic of intimate portraits, Má Sài Gònexplores humanity’s universal desire for love, acceptance, connection and belonging through an LGBTQ+ lens. The film is a love letter – a bittersweet ode to a comforting yet disturbing mother, to a city that is as liberating as it is oppressive.
Teaser: mothersaigon/teaseren
MÁ SÀI GÒN by Khoa Lê
Documentary. Quebec (Canada). 98 minutes, 2023.
In its original Vietnamese version – with French or English subtitles.
Director: Khoa Lê | Script: Jonathan Bernier, Khoa Lê | Cinematography: Mathieu Laverdière | Editing: Isabelle Daveau, Ariane Pétel-Despots, Khoa Lê | Sound recording: Lynne Trépanier, Ngọc Tân Nguyễn | Sound design: Simon Gervais | Sound mix: Bruno Bélanger | Original music: Marie-Hélène L. Delorme | Production: Les Films de l’Autre | Distribution: Les Films du 3 Mars
Website: f3m.ca/film/ma-sai-gon-mere-saigon
Facebook: facebook.com/mothersaigon
Instagram: instagram.com/lekhoa
VISIONS DU RÉEL SCREENINGS (54th edition – April 21 to 30, 2023)
Saturday, April 22 at 8:45 p.m. at Capitole Leone
Saturday, April 29 at 8:30 p.m. at Capitole Leone
Visions du réel: visionsdureel.ch/en/film/2023/ma-sai-gon-mother-saigon
HOT DOCS SCREENINGS (30th edition – April 27 to May 7, 2023)
Tuesday, May 2 at 8:45 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
Friday, May 5 at 2:45 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
Hot Docs: hotdocs.ca/whats-on/hot-docs-festival/films/2023/ma-sai-gon
MÁ SÀI GÒN was produced thanks to the financial participation of the SODEC, Telefilm Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.
LES FILMS DE L’AUTRE is an artists centre whose mission is to support formal research and creative freedom in independent cinema and to foster the emergence of strong, original and diverse voices. The organization occupies a unique place in the Quebec film landscape by bringing together filmmakers who act both as producers and directors of their works. Facebook
LES FILMS DU 3 MARS is supported by more than a hundred members of the film industry as well as by the following institutions: Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec; Canada Council for the Arts; Conseil des arts de Montréal; Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC); Telefilm Canada. F3M.ca | Facebook| Twitter | Instagram
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