About LPFF
Our Vision
The Luang Prabang Film Festival is a charitable cultural organization committed to the celebration of Southeast Asian film and to the growth and support of local and regional film industries and filmmakers. Southeast Asia is a magical part of the world, its cultures are many, and its plot lines are richly diverse. We want see these stories told, and told well, and we want everyone watching.
What We Stand For
Cultural Expression: With support from like-minded organizations, we seek to inspire expression and cultural diversity through film. LPFF offers a venue for the best of Southeast Asia’s most distinct and unique voices.
Mutual Exchange: LPFF is an exciting forum for international exchange where filmmakers share ideas, trends, and techniques. We all know that great films start with great ideas, and so LPFF cultivates the sharing of great ideas and discussion through our many panels and activities.
Sustainable Industry: We aim to create jobs and income for filmmakers by building connections and supporting a sustainable regional film industry with a particular focus on building capacity in Laos.
Diversity: We believe strongly in equal representation of all perspectives and take pride in including content that reflects differences in opinion, ethnicity, gender, and belief.
The Event
The Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF) brings together the boldest storytellers and the most talked-about films in Southeast Asia. Our curators handpick these films from ten countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), spotlighting them each year in the World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang.
This inspiring environment, rich in culture, provides an ideal backdrop for artists and industry professionals to share their experiences and showcase their talent. It is a festival for the adventurous, and is quickly becoming known as one of the most alluring and exciting locations on the international film festival circuit.
At the start of every December, the former royal capital of Laos is transformed into a theater. Screens are rigged on garden lawns, within the walls of five-star hotels, at a central market, and the whole town becomes the perfect setting for celebrating the art of cinema. LPFF believes in equal access, and thus, all our screenings are open to the public and free of charge. At our main outdoor venue, we set up 800 blue chairs, but regularly welcome eager audiences of over 1,500 people per screening.
Government Involvement
LPFF is produced on behalf of, and with extensive support from, the Lao government. Working closely with the Department of Cinema, under the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism, LPFF relies heavily on their cooperation and assistance.
The government provides LPFF with the use of the public venues for the duration of the festival, as well as the time and resources of their staff during both the planning stages and the event itself. In order to benefit from his experience and expertise, the Department of Cinema has granted LPFF director Gabriel Kuperman with a yearlong, renewable expert visa, the first such visa ever granted to a foreigner from their department.
The government promotes this event nationally and regionally with all of the resources they have available to them. It is LPFF’s intention to develop the Ministry’s ability to plan an event such as this without outside assistance. Additionally, LPFF will, over time, further involve the government with creative and curatorial decision-making.
Motion Picture Ambassadors
To celebrate the best of the best that Southeast Asian cinema has to offer, LPFF enlists our Motion Picture Ambassadors to help curate our festival. It is the responsibility of these film experts to suggest around ten films made within the past five years, which represent the finest filmmaking from their respective countries. From those lists, LPFF procures screeners from the regional distribution companies that are interested in participating in our non-traditional festival. A small committee of Lao nationals and foreigners (alongside the Department of Cinema) decide on the final films to be screened. LPFF is quite indebted to our volunteer Motion Picture Ambassadors, all of whom spend a great deal of time carefully preparing their suggestions and promoting our festival in their respective countries.
Sok Visal
Gayatri Nadya
Somsanouk Mixay
Amir Muhammad
Thaiddhi
Francis Joseph A. Cruz
Aishah Abu Bakar
Kong Rithdee
