Rain Falls Still
The Vu Lan festival is a Buddhist celebration in which Vietnamese people pay respects to their parents, especially their mothers. Those whose mothers are still with them wear red roses on their chest, and those whose mothers have passed wear white ones.
At a Buddhist temple, a young monk wearing a white rose cleans and prepares a meal of offering for the ceremony: papaya salad, spring rolls, soup with bamboo shoots. Only the sweet rice balls remain…
Kneeling on the floor of the main hall where the meal is presented to large golden statues of Buddha, the monk begins to remember the soft caress of his mother’s hands, and how she once used them to shape and douse sweet rice balls. Lulled by the chants of an abbot, he falls asleep again, dreaming once more of a rainy day from his past.
Unclassified 15+
Course: BFA FTV Narrative
Director Biography
Bạch Đăng Tùng is a Naarm-based writer and filmmaker from Hanoi, Vietnam. Short films he directed have screened as part of film festivals in Australia, Vietnam, and Europe. As a writer, he specialises in film criticism, including reviews and interviews. When he’s not making or writing about films, he dreams of becoming his favourite filmmaker.