Laosat DTH, a local satellite service provider, has struck a deal with BBC Worldwide Asia that will now offer Lao viewers access to BBC World News, BBC Earth and CBeebies for the first time.
The channels, which will air on Laosat DTH, will be available in all 17 provinces, giving audiences access to programmes such as Blue Planet II, right after their UK broadcast.
Senior VP of South and South-East Asia for BBC Worldwide, Myleeta Aga said, “The pay TV market is set for high growth in the next few years,” and “with our partnership with Laosat DTH, we are very pleased to be part of that growth, bringing our genre-defining content to viewers there.”
The general manager of Laosat stated that there is a “strong demand for BBC content in Laos” and that the addition of the new channels would give viewers “the best British and international content.”
For more information on how to get Laosat services in your home visit their Facebook page here.
2017 has shaped up to be an unprecedented year of firsts for Laos. With the country sending its first ever participant to compete in the Miss Universe Pageant, to its first ever film submission to the Academy Awards.
In the country’s first-ever Oscars submission, Laos has selected Mattie Do’s film Dearest Sister as its official entry for best foreign-language film at the 90th Academy Awards.
The thriller, which was selected to attend the 2014 Cannes Film Festival as part its La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde program and had its world premiere at Austin’s Fantastic Fest in September 2016, follows Nok, an impoverished young woman who moves from her rural village to Vientiane to take care of her cousin Ana, a wealthy woman married to an Estonian expatriate. Ana is gradually losing her sight and simultaneously seeing ghosts that communicate to her a mysterious message of numbers–numbers that Nok eventually uses to win the lottery.
Dearest Sister–which is a co-production of Laos (Lao Art Media), France (Screen Division), Estonia (Oree Films)–comes as Do’s second title and the second-ever Lao horror film, with her directorial debut Chanthaly being the first. Do is also the first female director of a Lao feature film.
Movie Poster for Dearest Sister
That this is the first year Laos will send a film to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) demonstrates how young the country’s film industry is. Making films in a country where the film industry is still underdeveloped has its difficulties, according to Do.
“The greatest challenge of making a film in Laos is having to work with no resources, hardly any budget, and almost no professional infrastructure for films,” said Do.
However, following the relatively untrodden path of being a filmmaker in Laos has its upsides, too.
“The benefits of working in a new environment like Laos without pre-existing structure is actually that everything I make is new,” said Do. “Because there aren’t any locked expectations about what a Lao film should be, I have the freedom to create something completely unique that hasn’t existed before.”
Do’s film was selected by the Lao PDR’s newly formed AMPAS Selection Committee, comprised of six professionals, all Lao nationals, from the Lao film and media industries. The committee was facilitated by the Luang Prabang Film Festival, a celebration of Southeast Asian cinema held annually in Luang Prabang, the nation’s cultural capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This year’s main event will take place 8-13 December 2017, and will showcase 32 feature films and several programs of shorts for over 22,000 attendees.
Luang Prabang Film Festival Board Member and Indochina Productions Founding Partner and Executive Producer, Nicholas Simon, says the Luang Prabang Film Festival formed the committee as part of the project’s mission to promote Lao film on the world stage.
“We wanted Laos to be represented in the foreign-language entries along with the rest of the world’s countries,” said Simon. “While the Lao film industry is still in its infancy, there are Lao films that deserve the Academy’s consideration. And the knowledge that a Lao film could be considered for an Oscar will only serve to improve Lao filmmaking and encourage more production.”
Director of the Lao government’s Department of Cinema, Vithoun Sundara, also sees the significance that the new Oscar eligibility will have for Lao filmmakers.
“Dearest Sister competing for Best Foreign Language Film is a wonderful development for the Lao film industry,” said Sundara. “The possibility of being considered for an Academy Award along with films from the other participating countries will surely inspire and motivate Lao filmmakers in the years to come.”
Lao actress Tot Lina plays blind character who hears voices from the other side
Dearest Sister (Nong Hak) has already caught the attention of film festivals and publications worldwide, gaining recognition from The Hollywood Reporter, Wired, ScreenDaily, and Champa Meuanglao while touting an impressive 90% critic’s rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 4th, 2018.
You can support the film by buying or renting on the US iTunes Store, or on AMC’s Shudder streaming.
Hailed as Vietnam’s ‘most powerful storm in a decade’, Tropical Typhoon Doksuri made landfall in Central Vietnam today Friday, September 15th, leaving 4 dead and 10 injured.
The cyclone touched down in Ha Tinh province, with maximum sustained winds of 135 kilometers per hour, and wind gusts reaching up to 185 kph. As Typhoon Doksuri causes extensive damage throughout Vietnam and Thailand, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been ordered to evacuate their homes, and have been relocated to higher ground.
According to meteorology reports, while Laos will not have to endure the brunt of the tropical storm, it is said to expect heavy rainfall. Several embassies have sent out warnings to their citizens, instructing them to take safety precautions as unpredictable weather may cause widespread flooding, landslides and other travel disruptions. Several eyewitnesses have reported seeing trees being uprooted and power lines torn to the ground.
The Thai Meteorology Departmenthas reported that the wind waves in the Andaman Sea and the upper Gulf will gain traction and produce waves up to 2-3 meters high from 15-18 September.
Doksuri swept through the Philippines on Tuesday as a less powerful tropical depression, killing four people and leaving another six missing.
Though the Minister of Planning and Investment, Dr Souphan Keomixay, has recently acknowledged that the demand for national development in the country is on the rise, new project proposals for 2018 submitted by State sectors and authorities threaten to plunge the country into further debt.
To avoid accruing unnecessary mounting debt, government officials have requested for all State organizations and provincial authorities to propose only essential projects which are vital for the development of their sectors.
Vientiane authorities and the provinces have been directed to prioritize state investment projects in response to the demand for national development and poverty reduction of local people.
Concerns have been raised about provincial projects reporting figures and costs that have been inflated in an attempt to extract additional funds from the government.
Critics scrutinize that many of these projects are unnecessary and offer poor value for money and are only submitted in the anticipation of receiving more funds.
As of August this year, 16 ministries/ministry equivalent organizations and five provinces submitted 1,095 project proposals to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, totaling more than 7.93 trillion kip (over 950 million USD).
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has instructed all sectors to submit their proposals and funding requests by this month in order for projects to be presented to the next National Assembly session in October.
Failure to submit proposals on time could delay project implementation, as only those approved by the parliament will be granted permission to proceed when the new year begins.
In previous years, officials approved an abundance of projects related to the construction of new public offices, roads, bridges, irrigation systems and power transmission lines.
Dr Souphan recommends for State sectors to diversify projects into other areas, while utilizing the existing budgets to complete current infrastructure projects.
In regards to technical development, the government has instructed State sectors to ensure that projects avoid overlapping one another. Critics have added that the thorough inspection of State investment projects is critical, given that numerous construction projects have previously overspent on their budgets exponentially.
The National Assembly approved over 5.46 trillion kip for State investment projects in 2017. Of the total figure, 3.3 trillion kip is sourced from the State budget to carry out 6,497 projects.
From January to June of this year, 3,592 projects worth over 1.78 trillion kip have been completely implemented, equating to 32.6 percent of the yearly plan.
The government will allocate 3.8 trillion kip which will be sourced from the State budget to carry out development projects in 2018. In addition, the government will source another 9.09 trillion kip from Official Development Assistance (ODA) to carry out projects to boost economic growth to at least 7 percent next year.
The Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF) has announced that it is looking for applicants for its 2017 Talent Lab for Southeast Asian filmmakers, to be led by Tribeca Film Institute® (TFI). The Lab, which will focus on grant writing and project pitching, will be held during the opening weekend of the eighth annual festival, which will take place 8-13 December 2017.
LPFF is a yearly celebration of Southeast Asian cinema held in Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage town in northern Laos that lacks a working movie theater. With inclusivity as core to its mission, all festival events are free and open to the public.
Building off the first iteration of this Talent Lab in 2016, this year’s Lab will be expanded to two days, and include a pitching workshop and pitch forum with feedback from a panel of film professionals. A jury will select one project from the forum to attend the TFI Network market at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival® (18-29 April 2018).
Hosted annually by TFI, the industry market gives filmmakers the opportunity to build connections with a wide range of industry insiders who can potentially help them advance their projects.
TFI will then mentor the winning filmmaker or filmmaking team through the completion of the project. All participants in the Talent Lab will also receive preferential consideration for any of TFI’s grants.
In addition to the opportunity to attend TFI Network, participating filmmakers will have the chance to win a financial award to produce their film. Through the Aurora Producing Award, Singapore-based media investment firm Aurora Media Holdings will contribute $10,000 to one film project.
Founded by Justin Deimen, Terence Kong, and Jeremy Sim, Aurora Media is one of Southeast Asia’s leading media and entertainment asset incubation, investment and management specialists.
“We’re looking at the Talent Lab to bring new voices and vision to the filmmaking landscape in the region,” says Deimen, Group Managing Partner at Aurora Media Holdings. “Stories that challenge perceptions, yet with strong commercial leanings and an artistic core always interest us. Our hope is that we can support and create frameworks that will develop and grow this ecosystem.”
The 2016 Talent Lab had 10 participating film projects from 8 Southeast Asian countries and was led by TFI’s Manager of Artist Programs, Bryce Norbitz. At the end of the project pitching sessions, the Filipino documentary project BEASTMODE was selected to attend the 2017 TFI Network market, where their production team built connections and, later, signed with an American producer.
After a successful 2016 Talent Lab, Tribeca’s renewed involvement demonstrates their commitment to fostering the growth of the region’s film industries.
“We are honored to return to the Luang Prabang Film Festival for the second year in a row to support such talented and unique filmmakers from Southeast Asia, especially given the lack of US support to filmmakers from the region,” said Molly O’Keefe, Senior Director of Artist Programs at Tribeca Film Institute. “As part of our year-round work erasing barriers of entry to the industry for underrepresented filmmakers, we are excited to support another LPFF project this year by bringing its filmmakers to our TFI Network market to meet with members of the US and international industry.”
To read more about the 2017 LPFF Talent Lab, access the Call for Applications here.
On Tuesday, September 12th, two senior executives of PS Lao Enterprise were taken into police custody following a heated dispute between the company’s co-presidents, Ms Souknaly Thepsimeuang and Mr Porher, and an angry swarm of shareholders demanding their investments be returned. It is currently unclear whether the duo were placed under arrest by authorities, or were just escorted off the premises by police in an attempt to deescalate the highly-tense situation.
As previously reported by The Laotian Times, PS Lao Enterprise is a company that produces food items such as meat, fish, rice, drinking water and is an importer of various grocery and consumer products in Laos.
However, the company came under fire in September, 2016 when the Bank of Lao PDR issued a warning to the enterprise to cease mobilizing funds from the public, and to return all investments made. The company denied the accusation and responded that no such activity existed.
Officially registered as PS-Agriculture and Industry Development Import and Export Co., LTD. in 2012, the corporation sourced funds in the same way as a public company or a bank, which is a violation of Lao law. As a limited private company, sourcing capital to operate a business is the responsibility of the investor.
The company accumulated massive sums of money from approximately 30,000 depositors, encouraging participants to invest anywhere from 500,000 LAK to 1 billion LAK. Investors were initially promised a high monthly dividend of 6%, but over time that number was reduced to 4.8%, then to 2%, and eventually shareholders stopped receiving interest from the firm completely. Some claim that 24% bonuses were extended to those who maintained their deposits for a year.
After investors stopped seeing dividends, the majority of shareholders wanted to withdraw their investments. In April, 2017 Ms Souknaly addressed the people’s request by saying the company was happy to refund anyone who wanted to part ways.
However, since the funds were not readily available, Ms Souknaly informed those who wanted to rescind their investments to notify the corporation officially of their intention to withdraw the money and then wait 3 months for products to be sold before a refund could be issued.
She also gave business partners a second alternative, encouraging investors to opt for marketing the company’s products themselves in correlation to the amount they had invested.
In June, the Bank of Lao PDR issued a final warning to PS Lao Enterprise instructing them to return all funds to investors by July, 7th or be reprimanded. The company was also required to submit daily progress reports of repayments to the central bank leading up to the deadline, however an official with the bank confirmed no reports were ever received.
On Monday, two months after the set deadline, hundreds of angry investors bombarded the PS Lao Enterprise office demanding answers.
After a meeting between board members and shareholders ended in a stalemate, a mob consisting of over 1000 members returned on Tuesday with fury.
As tensions escalated amongst the crowd, law enforcement intervened and Ms Souknaly and Mr Porher were lead away in a dark police van.
A special task force committee assembled by the government earlier in the year to address the matter, convened with shareholders after the executives were detained.
The meeting produced an agreement to include representatives for the investors on the special committee, so that the investors will have a chance to participate in finding an acceptable solution.
An official has announced that the authorities in charge have previously submitted a report about the issue to higher authorities along with recommended solutions, but declined to comment further on the proposed solutions, stating that they are now waiting for guidance from higher authorities before taking the next steps.
Gone are the days of not knowing where to eat, thanks to M-Parkfood and beverage park. Situated in the city center of Vientiane Capital, directly across from Xayoh Grill House, this charming food park offers an array of delicious food and beverage stalls, all in one alluring open-aired location at an affordable price.
With fairy lights strung from above, guests can unwind after a long day (Mondays. Am I right?) with a drink and some tasty food under the Vientiane sky. With over 20 stalls set up, patrons can indulge in cheesy fries, tacos, hot pot, ramen, seafood, traditional Lao food, and a variety of desserts.
Filled your stomach but not ready to go home? No problem, chill out at one of the beverage stalls including C Plus Fruit Juice or Dood Nom Milkshake Bar. Though most stalls sell beer, if something stronger is needed, The Lab, Dexter Crime Scene Bar and Tony Mix Cocktail are just a few bars on the premises that can quench your adult beverage thirst.
Super Ramen Udon Noodle
Bingsu Ice-cream
C+ Cheesy Fries
Taco Boy Hardshell Tacos
Dood Nom Milkshake Bar
Dexter Crime Scene Bar
The Lab Bar
This park specializes in diverse food and beverage carts, so you won’t find any clothing stalls or electronic booths here. Whether you’re just visiting for a few days, hosting some out-of-town friends, or just want a place to hang out after work, M-Park will take the stress out of your decision making.
The park offers free WIFI and is located on Rue Samsenthai, near the National Cultural Hall, M-Park stalls generally are ready to start serving at 17:30 and close down around 23:30. There is ample seating and parking, however if you have a large group, prepare to arrive early to find seating together. Checking forecasts beforehand is recommended.
That Dam, the black stupa, is a well-known if not so revered stupa that stands as a landmark of downtown Vientiane. While its origins are shrouded in mystery, the stupa has always been a source of pride for local residents.
This year, the famous That Dam stupa has been left so scruffy that it could almost be renamed the green stupa, with tufts of grass jutting out across its surface, and weeds growing wildly all around.
Unknown Origins
The origins of the That Dam black stupa are unknown, but since the French colonial period at least, the stupa has maintained its dark shade due to a lack of refurbishment or a fresh coat of paint.
That Dam stupa in 1930
According to a recent Lao Post article, the stupa fell into disrepair after the land on which it stands came into the ownership of the colonial French.
The grounds surrounding the stupa originally belonged to a renowned temple called Wat Phrarathsanatta, built by King Setthathirath in honor of his neice.
While not the original name for the stupa, owing to its eventual dark color, the stupa became known locally as That Dam.