Trương Minh Quý (b. 1990, Buôn Ma Thuột) is a Vietnamese filmmaker whose work blurs documentary and fiction, drawing on memory, landscape and history. An alumnus of the Asian Film Academy and Berlinale Talents, he graduated from Le Fresnoy in 2021. His films have screened at Cannes, Berlinale, Locarno, New York, Clermont-Ferrand, Rotterdam and Busan. His 2024 feature Việt and Nam was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes.
Hair, Paper, Water…
Hair, Paper, Water…
Hair, Paper, Water…
Synopsis
Born in a cave more than sixty years ago, Cao Thi Hau now cares for her extended family in a village, dreaming of her dead mother calling her home. Through intimate moments, the film observes daily life, hardship and the fragile transmission of the Ruc language to younger generations.
TRƯƠNG Minh Quý and Nicolas Graux: ‘Water trickles through dark caves, drop by drop. Drops of memory pass from Mrs. Hậu to her grandchildren, word by word. Frame by frame, water carries them, carries us, carries the film — homeward.’
Festivals & Awards
2025 Golden Leopard - Filmmakers of the Present, Locarno FF
2025 BFI London Film Festival
Director's Profile
TRƯƠNG Minh Quý
Filmography
2013 Someone Is Going to Forest
2014 Mars in the Well
2014 Déjà Vu
2015 The City of Mirrors
2016 How Green Was the Calabash Garden
2016 The City of Mirrors: A Fictional Biography
2017 The Sublime of Rectum
2019 The Tree House
2020 Death of Soldier
2021 Les Attendants
2023 Porcupine
2024 Việt and Nam
2025 Hair, Paper, Water…
Director's Profile
Nicolas GRAUX
Nicolas Graux is a Belgian filmmaker whose work blends documentary and fiction through immersive research and a poetic, sensitive gaze. A graduate of Institut des Arts de Diffusion (IAD), he co-founded the production company Replica. His debut feature, Century of Smoke (2019), premiered at Visions du Réel. Since 2020 he has collaborated with Trương Minh Quý across film projects.
Filmography
2012 Boy with the Devil
2013 La Colonie plate
2017 After Dawn
2019 Century of Smoke
2023 Porcupine
2025 《髮、紙、水⋯》Hair, Paper, Water…
Credit
Producer｜Julie FRERES, Thomas HAKIM, Julien GRAFF
Scriptwriter｜TRƯƠNG Minh Quý, Nicolas GRAUX
Cinematographer｜Nicolas GRAUX
Editor｜TRƯƠNG Minh Quý
Sound Design｜Ernst KAREL, TRƯƠNG Minh Quý
Sound Mix｜Ernst KAREL
Print Source
Lights On｜lightson@lightsonfilm.org