The Vietnamese films Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere (Đập Cánh Giữa Không Trung) and Nuoc 2030 (Nước) will play in Pittsburgh on July 12 as part of the 2015 Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival.
A synopsis of the former, which plays at the Melwood Screening Room in Oakland (map) at 2:30 pm, from the Toronto International Film Festival:
Vietnamese director Nguyen Hoang Diep's feature debut Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere is a frank yet tender examination of what happens when youthful ambivalence is confronted with life-altering decisions. Tung's strategy for gathering cash for the abortion is to join in the illegal cockfights held outside the city in deserted locales. Huyen's method of fundraising is equally precarious: she accepts her sex-worker friend's offer to hook her up with a client who has a fetish for pregnant women. But this moneymaking technique will take her into surprising and bizarre psychological territory.And a synopsis of Nuoc 2030, which plays at the Melwood Screening Room at 8:30 am, from the Silk Screen Festival:
Nuoc 2030 is a sophisticated dystopian mystery with a premise that may be grounded more in science than fiction. In the year 2030, extreme climate change has brought South Vietnam below sea level. Citizens now survive on boats and stilt houses and work on floating farms. When her husband is found dead, Sao (Quynh Hoa) takes a job at a floating farm run by a large corporation that she hopes will provide answers about his suspicious death. Not only does Sao encounter people from her past, but she is also confronted by revelations with larger implications than the simple, sad fate of her husband.The 2015 festival runs from July 10 through July 18 at the Melwood Screening Room and the Regent Square Theater. Ticket information and the complete festival schedule are available through the festival's website. Both films will have additional screenings later in the week.
