As part of our focus on Vietnamese cinema, we are delighted to premiere the debut feature by Vietnamese writer-director Dương Diệu Linh, winner Venice Film Festival Critic’s Week Grand Prize, 2024. Breadwinner and mother Tam works at a wedding hall in Hanoi, but her personal life is far from romantic. When her rebellious daughter Ha shocks her with news that her husband is having an affair (and has been caught live on TV!), Tam consults a voodoo spell-master to bring her husband back to her flat where an uninvited House Spirit visible only to women lurks. This vivid, quirky comedy-drama combines horror and fantasy, putting middle-age women entrapped life in contemporary Vietnamese society to the centre, as they strive for different paths towards a brighter future.

The screening will be introduced by Trà My Nguyễn Hoàng.

Festival selection/awards: Official selection Venice International Film Festival; Toronto International Film Festival 2024

Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard.

This film is screening as part of the East Asian Film Festival 2025.