Lao director to showcase film in New York

After creating a buzz in Laos with his productions, filmmaker Xaisongkham Induangchanthy is preparing to promote his movie “Raising A Beast” at the Tribeca Film Festival to be held in New York during April 18-29.
The jury at the 2017 Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF) Talent Lab, led by the Tribeca Film Institute, chose Xaisongkham and his film for the TFI Network Market that is part of the upcoming film festival.
The lab, which focused on grant writing and project pitching, was held during the opening weekend of the annual Laung Prabang Film Festival last December. Xaisongkham attended the lab with his Filipino producer, Abigail Lazaro.
Raising A Beast, which is co-produced by American producer Steve Arounsack, tells the story of two Hmong siblings, Ying and Neng, who are blessed with beautiful voices and dream of moving to the city to become singers. When their father refuses to sell the family’s prized bull to help pay for Neng’s education in the city, Ying become a bull trainer to cover her brother’s expenses.

Xaisongkham Induangchanthy speaks about the experience of making films.

An independent filmmaker, Xaisongkham discovered his passion for filmmaking while studying mass communications in Singapore in 1999. Together with his schoolmates, he made a documentary titled “Against The Tide” about the fishermen in southern Laos as his final year project.
It went on to win an award for Outstanding Documentary at the 4th Annual University Student Film and TV Festival in the Greater China Region, which was held in Hong Kong in 2006.
In 2011, he joined Lao New Wave Cinema, a group formed by emerging filmmakers, to make “At The Horizon”, the first thriller drama in Lao film history. The film won four national awards and was screened at several regional festivals. In 2016, the film was also screened on HBO Asia.
In 2012, Xaisongkham was selected to participate in the Asian Film Academy (AFA), which was organised as part of the Busan International Film Festival in Korea. As part of this programme, his script was also selected for producing a short film.
In 2015, he was invited by the AFA as a Technical Assistant. The same year, he completed a master’s degree in filmmaking in New York City with a Fulbright Scholarship.
His latest film, “Because I Am A Girl...”, was recently aired on the NHK network of Japan.
“Raising A Beast” was the debut feature film for Xaisongkham, who is currently based in Vientiane.
Recently, he was the Lao representative at the Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (SEAFIC) and he joined the pioneering script and mentoring venture with four other candidates.
He said the second edition of SEAFIC concentrated on first-time filmmakers from Laos, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. SEAFIC was created for Southeast Asian filmmakers to strengthen the quality of feature fiction films from the region.
Each year, SEAFIC invites first, second and third-time filmmakers to work with a script consultant and international experts for eight months to develop their projects.
The parallel producers’ lab, called SEAFICxPAS, is run jointly with Festival des 3 Continents Produire au Sud. The projects of Xaisongkham and the four other candidates will be automatically enrolled for the SEAFICxPAS programme. The first lab session will take place between February 24 and March 3 at the Monoceros Resort in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  
Xaisongkham was also among 22 participants from around the world selected to go on a themed trip to attend the 68th Berlin International Film Festival, to be held during February 14-22. The themed trip is part of the Visitors Programme of Germany that aims to give participants the opportunities to experience not only the Berlinale 2018, but also Germany and its people.
Last year, Xaisongkham served as a producer for first season of the series “On Your Side” that was produced by Mind Media. The series received good feedback from youngsters for telling love stories in school, within families and among friends. It attracted more than one million viewers online.

By Sisouphan Amphonephong
(Latest Update February 26, 2018)