Pięć Smaków w Domu

Mother Bhumi

Dìmǔ
dir. Chong Keat Aun
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Italy, Saudi Arabia 2025, 129’
subtitles: Polish and English

Press Play to start

buy a ticket or vod access from 23 pln
or pass for all films
Polish premiere
Theatrical Screenings
Th 12 Nov, 17:30
Kinoteka 3
Kinoteka 3
Su 15 Nov, 20:30
Kinomuzeum
Kinomuzeum
Online Availability
10 Nov, 10:00 – 6 Dec
Additional Materials
Awards and festivals
World premiere: Tokyo International Film Festival 2025 Golden Horse Awards 2025 - Best Leading Actress (Fan Bingbing), Best Cinematography, Best Original Film Song Bangkok IFF 2026 - Best Performance in a Leading Role (Fan Bingbing)
Credits
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Italy, Saudi Arabia 2025
Duration: 129’
director: Chong Keat Aun
screenplay: Chong Keat Aun
cinematography: Leung Ming-kai
editing: Eric Moh
music: Yii Kah Hoe, Chong Keat Aun
sound: Tu Duu-chih, Fiona Chang
cast: Fan Bingbing, Natalie Hsu, Bai Run-yin, Pearlly Chua
producer: Wong Kew Soon, Stefano Centini, Zoey Teng
executive producer: Jment Lim, Victor Ren, Calvin Choi
production: Janji Pictures, Volos Films Italia, Southern Islet Pictures
language: Mandarin, Hokkien, Thai, Malay
colouration: colour

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.

Filmography:

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

Be up to date!

© Fundacja Sztuki Arteria
Our website uses cookies, i.e. small text files that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you browse the site. Click here to change your cookie settings.