Finding a VOICE through Film: Phase II is a continuation of the Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF)’s Voice grant project from the 2017-2018 cycle. In Phase I of Finding a VOICE through Film, the pilot programme used mentorship as a tool to create a culture of learning and exchange within the budding Lao film industry. Phase II builds on these foundations to reach rural, ethnic communities outside of LPFF’s home base in Luang Prabang through an innovative roadshow. The “Houp Ngao Ban Hao” (Films from Our Home) roadshow travels to six provinces in Northern and Central Laos to promote creative expression, open discussion, unity in diversity, and exposure to the voices and stories of fellow Lao nationals within these underrepresented communities. By presenting Lao film screenings, interactive learning spaces, and collaborative film projects in provinces where it is unprecedented to provide tools for self-expression. LPFF promotes the representation of the youth, the elderly, women, LGBTI, disabled, and ethnic/indigenous people, and engage these underrepresented groups in activities that support the proliferation of their stories.

As a result of Voice funding for the Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF), various partners and many young students have become invested in film as a conduit for creative self-expression as well as a mechanism for furthering their other work that focuses on increasing financial opportunities in marginalised communities, especially among women and ethnic minority groups. Students and organisations across the country were utilising film to create support networks and safe spaces. The LPFF believes that these networks will assist them in future filmmaking endeavours, as well as in fostering a broader sense of community and inclusion throughout Laos’s creative economy. This inspired the LPFF to continue working hard to uphold its core values of cultural expression, mutual exchange, sustainable industry and diversity. 

Two of the four “Lao Identities on Film” grantees were young emerging filmmakers without much experience. The LPFF saw their grants as an opportunity to grow these filmmakers’ capacity for further creative work and paired them with an established Hmong filmmaker, Ka Xiong, to act as their mentor. Through this relationship and the production process, the grantees built their filmmaking and editing skills, and became more confident in their creative decisions and identities as filmmakers. Additionally, the grant-writing process for “Lao Identities on Film” allowed applicants to build their grant-writing and fundraising skills, and to confidently advocate for their creative work. Moreover, they gained skills on networking with communities and like mind individuals, interpersonal connections and communication, creative problem-solving, creative self-expression, and critical thinking. 

“Southeast Asia is a magical part of the world, its cultures are many, and its plot lines are richly diverse and hence its stories need to be told, and told well, and people should be watching. LPFF’s Voice projects have allowed filmmakers across Laos (many of whom come from marginalised groups) to build and enhance their professional and creative networks. Through gathering, they developed a sense of camaraderie, the feeling of unity of people among varying identities will likely lead further collaboration on creative projects, some of which may foreground marginalised groups. These close relationships among professional filmmakers and filmmaking rightsholders are bound to continuously uplift the voices of discriminated-against people in their films” – The LPFF team 

The above quote from the LPFF demonstrates that the key result of this project was about “Innovate and Learn”. The LPFF brought filmmakers and creative professionals from marginalised communities onto stage and built a space where the voices of people that are discriminated-against can speak freely without fear or reservation. This safe space allowed rightsholders and attendees from communities to meet like-minded individuals to exchange ideas in a low-pressure formal context. 

As a result of the intervention, the following “Lao Identities on Film” projects were realised by Voice’s rightsholder groups: The Signal, The Blanket, and Depression.