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SCREENING

Children of the Mist

Friday, May 19, 2023 at 7:00 pm

Location: Bartos Screening Room

Dir. Diem Ha Le, 2021, 92 mins. In Hmong and Vietnamese with subtitles. In a village hidden in the mist-shrouded Northwest Vietnamese mountains resides an indigenous Hmong community, home to 12-year-old Di, part of the first generation of her people with access to formal education. A free spirit, Di happily recounts her experiences to Vietnamese filmmaker Diem Ha Le, who lived with Di and her family for three years, documenting a comingofage story without precedent in their community. As Di grows older, her carefree childhood gives way to an impulsive and sensitive adolescence, and a gathering resistance to her culture’s long-accepted ritual of “bride kidnapping,” in which she’s nearly old enough to participate. An uncommon closeness between subject and filmmaker further complicates things, challenging the director’s ability to observe rather than intervene, and challenging the audience to reckon with the painful fault lines between tradition and modernity, family and freedom. Winner of the Best Director award at IDFA 2021 and shortlisted for the 2022 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.  

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free for MoMI members at the Senior/Student level and above. Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.