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Les Attendants

The Men Who Wait
Berlinale Shorts 2021
© Truong Minh Quý - Le Fresnoy
In mining, a slag heap refers to an artificially raised hill consisting of the cleared waste that accumulates during the extraction of raw materials. Birch trees now grow where workers from near and far once went underground to labour hard for very little money. Nowadays, this is a place where men meet to have anonymous sex and share moments of intimacy. “I think he was gay too,” says one of these men about his father who was a miner. Today, as in the past, those who cannot find shelter elsewhere live here. Home is far away, returning is impossible. Human beings need more than water and a tent.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Truong Minh Quý (Written and Directed by)
with Gérard Thomas, Jean-François Geneste, Souleymane Sanogo France / Singapore 2020 French, Bambara, Italian 15' Colour

Part of the Berlinale Summer Special

With

  • Gérard Thomas (X)
  • Jean-François Geneste (K)
  • Souleymane Sanogo (Z)

Crew

Written and Directed by Truong Minh Quý
Cinematography Son Doan
Editing Nicolas Graux, Truong Minh Quý
Sound Design Valentine Gelin, Yannick Delmaire
Producer François Bonenfant
Co-Producers John Badalu, Xiao Dong Guo
Co-Production Levo Films Singapur

World Sales

Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains

Tourcoing, France

Produced by

Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains

Tourcoing, France

Photos

Berlinale Meets | Interview

Truong Minh Quý

© Nguyen Le Minh Nhut

Born in Buôn Ma Thuột, Vietnam in 1990, he is an alumnus of the Busan International Film Festival’s 2012 Asian Film Academy and the 2016 Berlinale Talents. Traversing the borders between documentary and fiction, his films draw on childhood memories and the history of his Vietnamese homeland. He is currently undertaking research into analogue and new media at Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains in France.

Filmography

2013 Someone Is Going To Forest; short film 2014 Mars In The Well; short film · Déja-Vu; short film 2015 The City of Mirrors; short film 2016 How Green The Calabash Garden Was; short film · The City of Mirrors: a fictional biography 2017 The Sublime of Rectum; short film 2019 The Tree House 2020 Les Attendants (The Men Who Wait); short film

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021