Ordinary peopleTran Van ChoFishermanunforgettable storiesWhile visiting southeast Asia, filmmakers Davide Dominici and Claire Middletondiscovered some traditional ways of life at risk. Their ongoing series of short films,South East Asian Portraits, aims to capture the unique and memorable stories of afew unexpected individuals before it’s too late. By Madeleine Adamson.Photos by Claire Middleton.32 asialife HCMC
With its complex history,vibrant inhabitants and rapidpulse, HCM City has beenknown to charm most of thevisitors who set foot on itsstreets. Davide Dominici fromItaly and New Zealander ClaireMiddleton are no exceptions.“Claire and I fell in love withVietnam,” says Dominici. Heexplains that there are manyopportunities to observe peoplehere in a raw, natural way.Unlike in Europe, the Vietnamesespend a great deal of timeoutside and on the street. “Theylive outside and they do a lotwith their hands. It’s reallybeautiful and we wanted toexplore and expose that beautyin our films.”Middleton explains that astandard documentary lengthis 25-45 minutes. “When werealised we might not hit that,I thought, ‘why don’t we do aseries of short portraits’? Andthat’s how it’s evolved,” shesays.During their exploration ofthe city, they came into contactwith Tran Van Cho, a onearmedfisherman living in a hutbeside the Saigon River. Theydecided to feature him in theirpilot film project, Chu Ba Cut(The Fisherman).“It’s so rare to find someoneliving in this way. I was immediatelydrawn to him,” saysMiddleton.Tran Van Cho lost his armduring the American War andwas forced to make considerablereadjustments to carveout a new life. He built a hutnext to the river 20 years agoand had been living there eversince. Every so often, local policewould tell him that he wasn’tallowed to be there; his homewas torn down several timesand he had to rebuild it. Withthe help of translators and a fewfriends, Dominici and Middletonlistened to his story and beganto film. Towards the end of thefilming process, Tran Van Choended up permanently losinghis home when the land wastaken over by developers. Hewas forced to move to Ben Treprovince so that his youngersister could support him.Although Chu Ba Cut doesnot end happily, the fisherman’stale is a poignant one and thefilm itself is strikingly beautiful.Middleton and Dominici feelthat it is important to exposethe hidden beauty that exists inevery kind of lifestyle. The powerfulfilm also illustrates the wayin which traditional lifestyles,such as fishing, aren’t feasible inthe city like they once were.After they had finished helpingthe fisherman tell his story,Middleton and Dominici setout to find other individualswith unusual stories to share.They are especially interested inexploring jobs, cultural rituals ortraditional crafts that might soondisappear.At the moment, they arefinishing up a film about an82-year-old traditional calligraphyartist named Van Tien. “Hedescribes himself as a ‘pictographer’and the work he producesis a combination of pictures andChinese characters,” says Middleton.The filmmakers say theywere captivated by Van Tien,since it is so rare to come acrossan individual with such talentand devotion to an art form.Another story, this time aboutArak music, awaits them inCambodia. Arak, an ancientform of chanting, was popularyears ago when the spiritworld was more pervasive andmedicine was not accessible toeveryone. When someone in acommunity was sick, a group ofmusicians and a spiritual guidewould be called in to remove thesickness.“While travelling throughCambodia, we found this doctorwho still plays. We’ve methim and he’s agreed that wecan film him. But it all dependson whether there’s a familymember who falls ill. So we haveto wait for that moment,” saysMiddleton.Arak music will likely disappearas generations change andmodern medicine becomes morewidely accessible in Cambodia.The filmmakers want tocapture this ancient tradition asnaturally as possible before itfades away.Both Dominici and Middletonagree it can be difficult toremain emotionally detachedthroughout the filming process,especially when a story is asheart wrenching as the fisherman’s.“It’s hard not to feelsomething for the subjects, butit’s also important not to lookback too much. Otherwise youcan’t move forward with thenext project,” Dominici says.Their ultimate goal is to findand uncover more portraits in asmany southeast Asian countriesas possible—China, Thailand,Van TienCalligraphy ArtistMao YunKhmer Doctor andArak MusicianLaos, Indonesia, Philippines,Burma—as long as there are opportunities.Perhaps their biggest challenge,according to Dominici,is to present these stories asgenuinely as possible. “Wesimply want to use our filmmaking skills as a tool to reinforcea story. If we can add ourtouch of beauty without puttingourselves first, we have done itright.”asialife HCMC 33
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