Dust and Metal

DUST & METAL (CÁT BỤI & KIM LOẠI) brings together for the first time, a live cinema documentary featuring past and present stories of freedom in Vietnam. With a population of 97 million, and 45 million registered motorbikes (amongst the highest in South East Asia) that’s almost one bike for every two people. The countries urban roads, and ‘hẻm’ alleys that are too narrow for cars, are awash with the transportation of goods of all types and sizes on the back of motorbikes, including washing machines, entire families, and chickens. The sounds of engines and horns create a symphony of Vietnamese life.

Director’s biography:

Esther Johnson (MA, Royal College of Art) is a former recipient of the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Performing & Visual Arts, and is Professor of Film and Media Arts at Sheffield Hallam University, in Yorkshire in the UK. Projects include feature film Asunder, and shorts Liberation Radio, a ROLE to PLAY, Alone Together: the Social Life of Benches, and Chalk Trace. Her work has been exhibited internationally in 40+ countries, and broadcast on BBC and Channel 4 television, with audio works on ABC Australia, BBC Radio 4, Resonance FM and RTÉ radio. Screenings include at Barbican, London; BFI London Film Festival; CPH:Dox, Copenhagen; ICA, London; NASA, California; International Short Film Festival Oberhausen; International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam; Istanbul Biennial; and Tate galleries, London.