Two years after he completed it in the northern province of Ha Giang, Polish-American director Matt Dworzańczyk has recently uploaded the documentary “Vibrant Highland, Commercial Love” on YouTube.

The film tells stories of exotic love, of tribal kings and opium trade, of kidnappings (trafficking) for the Chinese sex trade; it deals with homosexuality among Vietnam’s ethnic minorities. It talks about political re-education, spirits and magic.

All those stories are intertwined in an energetic narrative centering around the myth and conspiracy of the secretive Love Market, a unique event during which ethnic minority couples supposedly break away from their families seeking to reconnect with their old lovers.

Previously, the film had its premiere at the World’s Independent Film Festival in San Francisco, US, where it was recognized as Best Documentary Feature. It has also been screened in Berlin, Germany.

“The Land of Whispers”, another film by Matt Dworzańczyk, has also attracted a large number of viewers, only two weeks after it was published on YouTube in 2013.

VOV