Pétanque

Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world: an often forgotten legacy of the Vietnam war. As part of anti-communist operations, between 1964 and 1973, the US dropped an average of one planeload of bombs every eight minutes for almost a decade, the majority of which remain a live threat to this day. Unexploded munitions have wide-reaching social implications that remain largely unacknowledged and unaddressed. Around half of all victims are children. The majority of adult survivors are men, leaving women to shoulder not only traditional domestic and care roles but the family’s economic burden largely by themselves. This short film visualises the longstanding, unseen toll of unexploded ordnance on survivors in rural Laos.

Short film officially selected for the Asian Film Festival, International Social Change Film Festival, Asia South East Short Film Festival, and was awarded an honourable mention at the Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival. Shot and produced for UNDP.

Director: Mailee Osten-Tan
DoP: Nicolas Axelrod
Editor: Mailee Osten-Tan & Nicolas Axelrod
Animator: Ian Hamden
Sound Designer: Tada Mitrevej
Translators: Mouthita Phonephetrath & Wanna Lassamee

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