Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: When the Sky Falls, Use It as a Blanket

The film screening titled »When the Sky Falls, Use It as a Blanket« presents three short films from the Viet-German community. In all three films, second-generation filmmakers explore both their relationships with the first generation and their place in (white) German society. With sensitivity, they engage in dialogue and seek to connect. However, it quickly becomes clear that the attempt to foster mutual understanding and empathy also means giving space to collective and familial traumas. Ultimately, all their stories share a common thread: the migration history of their parents, who came to the GDR as Vietnamese »contract workers«.

Date: Thursday, 17 October 2024, 07.30 pm

End: Thursday, 17 October 2024, 09.00 pm

Location: Cinema, room 112, Steubenstraße 6, 99423 Weimar

Type: Exhibition | University Gallery

Section: Faculty of Art and Design

The title, »When the Sky Falls, Use It as a Blanket«, a Chinese proverb, symbolizes one of the central points of the generational conflict: one side wants to forget, while the other cannot and does not want to forget. Under this »blanket«, the filmmakers navigate the web of the »visible« and the »unspoken«.

Thai-Tai Pham's experimental film, Thi Mai Trang Vo's hybrid documentary, and Hai Anh Trieu's narrative film offer powerful insights into how a marginalized group copes with the pandemic, builds bridges between two (seemingly) different worlds, and explores a family history. The filmmakers confront the question of how traumas, sometimes deeply rooted in the past, affect our present and how the community can practice healing and love.

»Invisible Diaspora« (Thái Tài Phạm), 6 min
»Fungi Monster« (Thị Mai Trang Võ and Nadja Ißler), 30 min
»I Loved You First« (Hải Anh Triệu), 12 min

Calendar of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

When the Sky Falls, Use It as a Blanket – Film Screening & Talk