Hair, Paper, Water…

Awarded in Locarno: Golden Leopard (Filmmakers of the Present), Boccalino d’Oro for Best Cinematography, and Special Mention (Pardo Verde).

In the Vietnamese documentary HAIR, PAPER, WATER… you enter an unfamiliar world where even a falling drop is audible. Belgian director Nicolas Graux and Vietnamese director Trương Minh Quý follow Cao Thị Hậu—born sixty years ago in a cave—as she teaches her grandchildren the endangered Rục language: word by word, memory by memory. It is cinema as transmission—intimate, patient, and tender. The weight of an everyday gesture is as profound as that of a life lesson.

Shot on 16mm, the film’s grainy, textured images evoke intimacy and the passage of time. Sound plays a central role, capturing natural textures – rustling leaves, mud underfoot, dripping water – creating an auditory landscape that shapes experience. As Hậu ventures toward Saigon, the film shifts from quiet observation to tender reflection. Everyday gestures, plants, and remedies gain emotional weight, forming a poetic, sensory family portrait that celebrates the persistence of language and culture through careful transmission.