L’ATELIER DU FESTIVAL

TASTE

Directed by : Le BAO

  • Year of production : 2018
  • Country : Vietnam , Vietnam
  • Length : 90 minutes

Previous films : http://www.cinandovl.com/latelier2017

Synopsis

Bassley is a Nigerian immigrant plying his trade as a footballer in Saigon to support his family back home. When he breaks his leg, his contract with the team is terminated. He finds work as a masseuse at a hair salon. Seeking additional income, Bassley enlists the help of Gam to find work as a male gigolo. In return, Bassley helps Gam to repair her house. The 5 middle-aged women they find are Trang, a fish monger, Thuo, a laundry-woman, Mien, lives in a house with no men, Thuong, a wild woman that lives in a giant pot along the river canal, and Hanh, lives with her husband in an abandoned pottery kiln. Over the course of 3 days and 2 nights in a small room inside an abandoned paper mill, they clean together, cook together, eat together, sleep together, and have sex multiple times. Bassley goes to the bank to wire the money he has earned back to Nigeria. He tries to call his wife but is unsuccessful. Bassley then tries to enter the lives of the women he slept with in ordinary ways.

Statement

Taste is based on my memories of the buses I took as a student and the image of tired African men sitting at the back seat at the end of a long day. In Saigon, there are many Nigerians working in procurement, export, as English teachers, or as football players. They are often exploited and end up losing their jobs after a trial period and have no money to send home. They have to find other means of survival. But I do not want to make a film that exploits the plight of a Nigerian man living in Vietnam. I want to approach Taste in a more contemplative way. It is about the melancholy and loneliness the protagonist shares with the workingclass Vietnamese women he sleeps with. This is a film with no climax or dramatic revelation at the end.


Credits

Le BAO - Director


Specifications

Language film : Vietnamese
Working budget: 350 000 €
Financing acquired: 173 500 €

Contacts

Production

E&W FILMS / LE BIEN PICTURES
3 Jalan Anak Bukit, #26-06, SINGAPORE 588998 / 140 VIETNAM - +65 91 375 018 / +84 - www.ewfilms.com.sg

LAI WEIJIE / DONG THI PHUONG THAO - [email protected]

L'Atelier 2017