Screening dates and booking

Credits

  • Directors

    Nicolas Graux, Trương Minh Quý

  • With

    Cao Thị Hậu, Cao Xuân Doanh, Cao Thị Hiệu

  • Belgium-France-Vietnam 2025. 71min

  • Courtesy of

    Dérives

  • Languages

    Rục, Vietnamese

    With English subtitles

Introduction

Shot on lush 16mm and attuned to the forest’s hush, this evocative film tenderly traces the life of Cao Thi Hau, a homeopath, farmer and great-grandmother. Alone in the mountains, where she communes with the soil and tends to her grandchildren, Cao’s wisdom becomes a beacon in a world adrift from its roots. Guided by Trương (Viet and Nam) and Graux’s (Century of Smoke) poetic precision, the film gently dissolves the boundary between fiction and documentary.

Hyun Jin Cho

With thanks to General Representation of Wallonia-Brussels to the United Kingdom

How to book

Tickets start from £10 for all screenings and events in London, with concessions available for many screenings. Booking information and ticket prices.

If you’re aged 16 to 25, sign up for free to BFI 25 and Under for a chance to get £6 tickets to all screenings and events (subject to availability).

Missed out?

More tickets may become available for these screenings before and during the festival. Find out about extra ticket releases and standby queues.

Our programmers recommend...

Singing Wings

Rich with humour and heart, Hemen Khaledi’s documentary debut shows life outshining fiction, painting a lyrical portrait of a magical stork village in Kurdistan.

Read more about Singing Wings

Becoming Human

The guardian ghost of an abandoned cinema contemplates reincarnation amid the hubbub of Cambodia’s dizzying transformation in Polen Ly’s lyrical drama.

Read more about Becoming Human

The Blue Trail

Gabriel Mascaro’s wondrous adventure of a defiant elder fleeing an ageist society is a life affirming boat-movie that manages laughs and warmth in the face of calamity.

Read more about The Blue Trail