CENTURY OF SMOKE
Nicolas Graux | Laos, Belgium 2018 | 90 Min. | OmeU
Austrian Premiere
Laosan, a young family man, spends most of his time smoking opium. In his remote village in the heart of the Laotian jungle, opium farming is the only way to secure one’s livelihood. But opium is also the poison that leads the men to indifference and lack of prospects, while the women have to carry on their apathetic husbands’ work: the opium production.
Century of Smoke provides intimate insights into this social aporia, and its minimalist approach creates a dark and kafkaesque picture of an almost unbearable life.
Director: Nicolas Graux
Camera and Sound: Thomas Schira, Nicolas Graux
Editing: Lenka Fillnerova
Producer: Julie Freres
Screenings
Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias – FICCI (Colombie, Cartagena) – 11/16 March 2020
Filmer le travail (France, Poitiers) – 7/16 February 2020
MiradasDoc (Ténérife, Guia de Isadora) – 1/8 February 2020
Les Magritte du Cinéma (Belgium, Bruxelles) – 1. February 2020 PRÉSÉLECTION
Les Escales Documentaires (France, La Rochelle) – 7/11 November 2019
MOSTRA – Sao Paulo International Film Festival (Brazil, Sao Paulo) – 17/30 October 2019
BRIFF – Brussels International Film Festival (Belgium, Bruxelles) – 20/29 June 2019
DOK.fest München (Germany, Munich) – 8/19 May 2019
Visions du Réel (Swizzerland, Nyon) – 5/13 April 201
Biography
Nicolas Graux was born in 1988 in Liège, Belgium. Passionate about film, he graduated from IAD in 2012 with a Master in Film Directing. His graduation film, Boy with the Devil, between fiction and sensory experience, was shown in several festivals across Europe. In 2013, he co-founded the production society Replica, within which he created the video installation The Flat Colony, about a decaying communist fresco. His short fiction film After Dawn (2017), shot in Poland, deals with homosexual desire on the backdrop of a repressive society. After Dawn was selected in more than thirty international film festivals, including Premiers Plans d’Angers, Sarajevo and Palm Springs. In parallel, Nicolas has been working for several years on a long documentary project set in a remote area of Laos plagued by opium, Century of Smoke (2018)
Filmography as Director
After Dawn (2017)
La colonie plate (2013)
Garçon au diable (2012)
