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- Convenors:
-
Juan Francisco Salazar
(Western Sydney University)
Katherine Gibson (Western Sydney University)
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- Discussants:
-
Jennifer Deger
(Charles Darwin University)
Stephanie Spray (University of Southern California)
Malini Sur (Western Sydney University)
Jane Mills (UNSW)
- Format:
- Roundtable
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 1 December, -
Time zone: Australia/Sydney
Short Abstract:
This is a closed roundtable discussing the film The Bamboo Bridge (2019, 65 min) directed by Juan Francisco Salazar and co-written with Katherine Gibson. The film will be available to watch via the AAS conference website during the duration of the conference. The Bamboo Bridge follows the last year of a 1.5 kilometre bamboo bridge built every season across the Mekong River in Cambodia following the rhythms of the river and the monsoon. A meditation on ephemeral infrastructure, on human-non-human interactions, and the resilience of community economies. Panellists include Jennifer Deger (CDU), Stephanie Spray (USC), Jane Mills (UNSW) and Malini Sur (WSU).
Long Abstract:
The Bamboo Bridge premiered in 2019 at the Antenna Documentary Film Festival in Sydney winning a Special Mention Award from the Jury. In this panel, filmmakers and anthropologists discuss multi modal approaches to interdisciplinary creative research around the production of The Bamboo Bridge. The film looks at the stories that take place around a unique 1.5 kilometre long bamboo bridge that for generations has been built every year following the rhythms of nature across the Mekong River to join the rural community of Koh Paen to the city of Kampong Cham in Cambodia. In 2017 this bridge was dismantled for the very last time and replaced by a huge government funded concrete bridge that put an end to this architectural masterpiece and triggered rapid change to the local way of life. The Bamboo Bridge brings together observational and poetic modes of representation to tell a story of social transformation during times of rapid environmental change. The film portrays two worlds (rural Koh Pean Island and Kampong Cham the third largest city in Cambodia) both of which are changing rapidly with the times. These worlds were once connected by a seasonal bamboo bridge that was a cultural heritage of pride for local residents, now these two worlds are connected by a massive concrete bridge oblivious to the rhythms of nature. This bamboo bridge is telling an urgent and ancient story. Are we listening?
https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/future-makers/issue-four/a-bridge-to-the-future