Behind the Lens: Children of the Mist
I never wanted to focus on bride catching in Hmong culture.
The reason I wanted to make Children of the Mist is when I first saw Di and her friend playing around in the village.
They were very happy with the game and it was very innocent.
But I know their childhood will not last forever.
And it just reminded me about my childhood, because I also come from another ethnic group in northern Vietnam and my friend got married very young.
And so that's why I wanted to film and to record their beautiful childhood.
And that is one question [that] came up to me when I [was] filming them.
Like, how their childhoods can disappear.
This question led me to film Di and her friend and her community in three years to find the answer for this question.
And I just want to give a fair representation of what happened to her.
And I just want the audience to walk away with their open mind and their open heart without any cultural judgments of this tradition.
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