Bo Hai

A family of Vietnamese origin in Prague: due to a family fatality the mother flies back to Vietnam, leaving father (in Vietnamese "Bo") Hai and son Viet to fend for themselves without her assistance. It's not long before tensions come to the surface, with the strict father, who works from six in the morning to ten at night in his convenience store in order to support his family, demanding both obedience and constant help from his son. The latter would rather spend time with his friends, that is until his father is threatened by rampaging youths.

Director Dužan Duong and producer Jan Syruček, both students at Prague's FAMU film school, shot this work of docufiction with the aim of turning the spotlight on the state of this "silent minority" in the modern day Czech Republic. They state that members of the second generation "think like Czechs, speak like Czechs and yet look Vietnamese". That the film appears so authentic is largely due to the cast, with the main roles played by the director's father and brother. CF