Mother Bhumi
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Kinoteka 3
Kinomuzeum
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Film description
Northern Malaysia, 1998. Despite the political storm brewing across the country, life on the border with Thailand seems to flow at its own unshakable pace. In a multicultural village lives Hong Im, a young widow raising two children. By day, she tends to the rice fields and supports her neighbours in their fight against a bureaucratic machine intent on expropriating their agricultural land. By night, as a folk shaman – the local community's sole line of defence against the dark forces tormenting them – she performs rituals and lifts curses. Yet, she herself struggles with grief and the secret shrouding the mysterious circumstances of her husband's death. When unsettling phenomena begin to haunt the village, long-buried family secrets and local traumas come to light.
Chong Keat Aun’s fourth feature is a hypnotic, mystical drama in which the line between the physical world and the spiritual realm is constantly blurred. Inspired by the director’s own childhood, Mother Bhumi explores the lingering traces of a colonial past and the fight to preserve ancestral land. Chinese megastar Fan Bingbing (Youth, I Am Not Madame Bovary) undergoes a striking transformation as Hong Im, earning a Golden Horse Award for her performance.
text:
Lucyna Szczykutowicz
Chong Keat Aun
A Malaysian director of Chinese descent. His debut short, Cemetery of Courtesy, screened in competition at the Busan International Film Festival. His feature directorial debut, The Story of Southern Islet, won Best New Director and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. His second feature, Snow in Midsummer, premiered at the 2023 Venice Days section of the Venice International Film Festival, securing nine Golden Horse nominations. Chong’s third feature, Pavane for an Infant, was featured in the 19th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival programme.
2017 Yī shān / Cemetery of Courtesy (short)
2021 Historia południowej wyspy / Nán wù / The Story of Southern Islet
2021 Yìwài / The Incident (short)
2022 Dayang Bersiong / The Sinful Cook (short)
2023 Wǔ yuè xuě / Snow in Midsummer
2024 Pawana nad kołyską / Yáolán fàn shì / Pavane for an Infant
2025 Matka Bhumi / Dì mǔ / Mother Bhumi

