The Remnants
Runtime : 72mins
Country : Laos
Dir. : Paolo Barberi and Riccardo Russo
Schedule : Sat 22, June 2019 (13.00)
Genre : Documentary
World Premiere : Festival dei Popoli 2017
Synopsis
What is the most heavily bombed country in history? A country that never formally entered a war, Laos. Between 1964 and 1973, during the Vietnam war, the American air force carried out over 500,000 bombing missions over Laos, dropping more than 2 million tons of explosives over the country.
Forty years later everything changed, but the life of Nouds and Saysamone, both born after the end of hostilities, is still deeply affected by the legacy of war.
Nouds, is a tourist guide. He is a child of the revolution, but hopes to seize the possibilities offered by the recent opening of the country to the global market by organizing “war tours”.
Saysamone is the leader of a team of demining women. Day after day she risks her life to neutralize unexploded ordnance that still exists in the Lao territory.
Two equally emblematic situations, two parallel stories that will lead us to the discovery of contemporary Laos.
THE REMNANTS is a journey into the contradictions of today’s wars, in which the remains of the conflict always outlive the conflict itself. It is a journey into the culture and spirituality of a people that manages to incorporate good and evil, construction and destruction, and to convert killing objects into handy tools to tackle everyday life.
Director’s Biography
Paolo Barberi
Paolo Barberi, visual anthropologist and a documentarist, has released several documentaries in Italy and worldwide with a particular focus on indigenous populations.
Founding member of the association of researchers and filmmakers Esplorare la Metropoli (ELM), Paolo is also research associate at the University of Ferrara where he teaches media studies.
Riccardo Russo
A geographer and filmmaker Riccardo holds a PhD in Human Geography with a specialization in multimedia for human rights. He has realized several internationally released documentaries focusing on socio-environmental issues on five continents. They have been shown in film festivals and broadcast on numerous television networks.