LAOS TURNS UP A WINNER
Nong Hak ( Dearest Sister) — a socially conscious horror drama revolving around the lottery — puts the spotlight on Lao cinema, and on its star, Vilouna ‘Tot Lina’ Phetmany
Stepping off of the red carpet, the gorgeous Lao star Vilouna Phetmany — known by her stage name Tot Lina — began to greet us in perfect Thai. On Wednesday, she attended the gala opening of the Bangkok Asean Film Festival, shining among the regional superstars. Tomorrow the festival will screen the film she stars in, a new-wave Lao horror called Nong Hak, before it goes into general release on May 18.
Nong Hak ( Dearest Sister) — a second feature by Lao female director Mattie Do — tells a story of ghosts, greed and class differences in contemporary Laos. In the film, Vilouna plays Ana, a woman married to a Westerner and who’s losing her sight due to an illness. It is soon revealed that Ana is being haunted by ghosts that, in true Southeast Asian form, come to tell her the winning numbers of the lottery. However, no one is aware of this mysterious occurrence but Nok, a village girl who takes care of Ana. The film mixes elements of family relationships, drama and social observation into a psychological horror film — one that shows great promise for Lao cinema.
“Mattie is a Lao who grew up in a foreign land,” said Vilouna of her director. “So, her viewpoint and her films reflect those of a foreigner looking into Laos. With both Nong Hak and Chan
thaly [Mattie’s previous feature], they observe how much we are bound by our own culture, and even how superstitious we can be about our spiritual beliefs.”
Vilouna, one of the top superstars, models and singers in Laos, suddenly turns into a lottery guru for a second when asked how popular the frolic of fortune is to the Lao population.
“We have lotto a few times every week. It’s easy to just buy your number off of the street. Mostly, people just play two- or three-digit numbers. And the winnings will depend on how much you buy the number for.
“In the Thai news, we can see people taking powder and scrubbing it into tree bark to look for lucky numbers. But for us, we mostly get numbers from our dreams, or even the shape of candle drippings in water at a temple ritual. And we also associate certain animals with different sets of numbers.
“I actually won the lotto five to six years ago. I didn’t know what I dreamt about, but I remember it was something obscene.” She giggled. “I got like 2,000 baht from it.”
There aren’t too many horror films in Laos. Most of our content falls on the entertaining side, like comedies and love stories
On a more serious note, we discussed the relationship between a Lao girl and a white man, as depicted in the film. Vilouna said she doesn’t think this gives Lao ladies a bad image, that they only hope to marry farangs for monetary gain.
“A film is not a representation of an entire country,” said the actress.
“It’s just one perspective of a girl married to a foreigner while she’s also ill and facing a family problem. The film also shows that if you’re faced with such pressure, and then a greedy person comes in, it can wreck a family.”
Based in Vientiane, the self-confessed som tam lover began her road to stardom with a career in modelling. She was fresh out of high school at the time.
“Modelling, back then, came about with the initiative to preserve Lao culture. So, a model — as it meant in the past — was someone who set a good example as a fine Lao lady and exchanged our culture with the world. Initially, it wasn’t about selling clothes. That came later, as the fashion industry began to grow in the country,” told Vilouna.
She recalled that it wasn’t easy at all to break into the Lao entertainment industry.
“The first modelling application I sent in got rejected!” she laughed. “They didn’t want me, at first. My skin is tan, and white girls just look prettier to the general public.”
“Lao people consume much of the media content from other countries. With the ‘white’ fascination, I think the trend came from Thailand and South Korea. But we also listen to music from America, making us see divas like Rihanna and Beyoncé in the process. They don’t have to be white to make it to the top. They are my encouragement. So I’m not too attached to this issue of skin colour.”
It was lucky that Vilouna didn’t take no for an answer in those early days. She kept trying, even asking to work without getting paid. That was how she landed her first few gigs. More people then began to approach her for work after they realised what she could do. From that point on, she has ventured into professional modelling, and later made her break as a pop star and TV personality in Lao showbiz. Nong Hak marks the star’s first feature film. Her previous acting only included commercials and music videos.
“It was all very exciting. Playing a blind girl in your first film is not easy at all. I got to do a lot of homework on that, to understand someone who’s losing her sight. On set, we had both Estonian and French crew. They were very professional and everything had to be precise. I was very nervous, but in the end everything went well.”
Nong Hak promoted itself as Laos’ second horror film, the first being director Mattie Do’s 2012 feature Chanthaly. The film will be released in Laos on May 11.
“There aren’t too many horror films in Laos,” said Vilouna. “Most of our content falls on the entertaining side, like comedies and love stories. With ghost stories, they require moreadvanced techniques and effects. Our people are talented, but I feel we still need to improve and develop ourselves further.”
She compares the Lao film industry to a flower — one that is blossoming but has yet to fully bloom.
“Laos is a very small country. We don’t have that many people. The industry’s growth has been steady. And I saw it when there was barely anything, when it started to take off, until now when it’s popping,” she said.
“There are increasingly more people making movies [in Laos] right now. But whether that gives us a chance at the international stage like other countries have, I’m not sure. People are making the best out of it. And when they are ready, I think we’ll definitely hear from them.”
Once she’s done promoting Nong Hak in Thailand, Vilouna is set to return to Vientiane to attend the audition round of Laos
Super Model as its coach. The model-seeking contest is being presented in a reality-show format. She happily disclosed that the show also welcomes transgender people.
“This is quite new for Lao people. But we want everyone to see this equality in our society, as well as to witness people’s skills. There are men, women and transgender people. We’re getting quite good feedback from it, too. Many people are very interested.”
Vilouna also revealed she’s currently in talks to star in another of Mattie Do’s projects. While her lips are sealed on further details, she did admit that “it’s going to be another horror”.
Nong Hak ( Dearest Sister) will be shown tomorrow at SF World Cinema, CentralWorld, at 5.25pm as part of the Bangkok Asean Film Festival 2017. The film will officially screen in Thailand on May 18 in cinemas nationwide.