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Century of Smoke

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Laosan, a young family man, spends all his time smoking opium. For his community, lost in the heart of the Laotian jungle, opium farming is the only way to survive. But opium is also the poison that puts men to sleep and kills their desires.

Nicolas Graux

Director

After Dawn, Boy With the Devil
Nicolas Graux

Writer

After Dawn, Boy With the Devil
Julie Freres - Derives

Producer

Castle to Castle, By the Name of Tania, Before We Go, A Summer With Anton, Heroes Without a Face
Thomas Schira

Director of Photography

After Dawn, Kev, Mitra, Before We Go
Lenka Fillnerova

Editing

After Dawn
David Vranken

Sound Editing & Mixing

Project Title (Original Language):

Century of Smoke
Project Type:

Documentary
Genres:

Art Documentary, Social Issues
Runtime:

1 hour 30 minutes
Completion Date:

February 12, 2019
Production Budget:

160,000 EUR
Country of Origin:

Belgium
Country of Filming:

Lao People's Democratic Republic
Language:

Chinese, Other
Shooting Format:

2K
Aspect Ratio:

1.85:1
Film Color:

Color
First-time Filmmaker:

No
Student Project:

No

Visions du Réel

Nyon
Switzerland
April 6, 2019
World Premiere
International Competition
Munich International Documentary Festival

Munich
Germany
May 11, 2019
German Premiere
Horizons Competition
Mostra - São Paulo International Film Festival

São Paulo
Brazil
October 17, 2019
South American Premiere
New Directors Competition
FICCI - Cartagena Film Festival

Cartagena de Indias
Colombia
March 11, 2020
Colombian Premiere
DOCUMINDS Selection
Festival Filmer le travail

Poitiers
France
February 14, 2020
"Grand Prize", "Restitution of Contemporary Work" award, "Valorization of Research" award
Miradas Doc - International Documentary Festival

Guía de Isora
Spain
February 1, 2020
Spanish Premiere
International Competition
Ethnocineca - International Documentary Film Festival Vienna

Vienna
Austria
May 9, 2020
Austrian Premiere
International Competition
Sydney World Film Festival

Sydney
Australia
April 14, 2020
Australian Premiere
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Festival international du film de Nancy

Nancy
France
August 29, 2020
GRAND PRIZE - BEST DOCUMENTARY
Escales Documentaires

La Rochelle
France
November 8, 2019
French Premiere
International Competition
Brussels International Film Festival

Brussels
Belgium
June 26, 2019
Belgian Premiere
National Competition
Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival

Ghent
Belgium
May 10, 2020
Official Selection
Arthouse Film Festival

Kolkata
India
January 7, 2020
Indian Premiere
Documentary Selection
PriFest - Prishtina International Film Festival

Prishtina
Kosovo
August 25, 2020
Kosovo Premiere
Documentary Film Competition
ARKIPEL Jakarta International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival

Jakarta
Indonesia
November 22, 2020
Indonesian Premiere
Competition
FFM29 - 29e Quinzaine du cinéma francophone

Paris
France
September 28, 2020
Official Selection
Rome Independent Cinema Festival

Rome
Italy
October 6, 2020
Italian Premiere
Official Selection
3rd UMF Pugnant Film Series

Athens
Greece
August 26, 2020
Greek Premiere
Official Selection
Festival Promenons-nous dans les docs

Dirac
France
October 3, 2020
Official Selection
Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival

Belgrade
Serbia
May 8, 2020
Serbian Premiere
Official National Release - Belgium

Brussels
Belgium
September 5, 2019
Official national release

Distribution Information

Dérives

Country: Belgium

Rights: All Rights
Wallonie Image Production

Sales Agent

Country: Worldwide

Rights: All Rights

Director Biography - Nicolas Graux

Nicolas Graux was born in 1988 in Liège, an industrial city in the East of Belgium. In 2012, he graduated from the Institute of Media Arts with a master's degree in fiction filmmaking. Living in Brussels, Nicolas works in the vibrancy of memories and present moments. His narratives and images, lying between documentary and fiction, personal and impersonal, rely on patient immersions in distant territories and with people rarely portrayed in cinema, weaving sensory and poetic film experiences that bring out existential questions. His short films have been selected in international film festivals and exhibitions, such as Premiers Plans d’Angers, Sarajevo, Palm Springs, and have won several awards. His first feature film, Century of Smoke (2019), portraying the life of an opium-dependent community in the remote jungle of Laos, premiered at the 50th Visions du Réel film festival, where it was praised for its exceptional aesthetic control and poignant humanistic vision. Century of Smoke has continued to screen at the 43rd São Paulo’s Mostra and Munich International Documentary Festival, among others, and has won the Grand Prize of “Filmer le Travail” IFF and the Best Documentary Award in Sydney WFF.

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Director Statement

Nadin Mai: There are directors who know from the planning stage how their film would look like. There are others who find the most suitable aesthetics during the actual filming process. How did you approach Century of Smoke?

Nicolas Graux: The process needs to be slow. I may have written pages and pages during the search for funding, but once we are there, all we have left are mere guidelines. We try to be always present and perceptive, and to work in the most suitable way in relation to the individual scenes or shots. We take care of having the point-of-view of the camera, the angle, and the shot distance, in tune with what is filmed, so that something truthful and evocative can arise. It’s very organic, much depends on sheer intuition, and sometimes the aesthetics are dictated by the most down-to-earth reasons. Of course there is a solid base of research and immersion, but the reality we are filming will always remain, at least partly, a mystery. It is like a half-opened door, there will always be something impenetrable. I experienced that very strongly with Century of Smoke. Even though I tried to share their point-of-view and to be on the ‘right side’, there was an abyss that I needed to acknowledge. Working from within that abyss actually becomes a driving force in shaping the film’s aesthetics. What will be inside and outside the frame, where is the off-screen limit? How to transcend the anthropological, descriptive way of depicting reality, through the sensory and the evocative? How to draw a form of narrative in tune with their situation, when the linear, drama-driven schemes don’t apply? I needed to take great care of these questions and work moment by moment. Of course it’s a risky approach, there is no script, so you need to have time on your side and sometimes allow for things to naturally emerge which could seem troubling in regard to my preconceptions, but are in fact more interesting.

Nadin Mai: Century of Smoke allows the viewer to be immersed in the beauty of nature, but also in the daily life of the protagonist, Laosan. This immersion is important, albeit not always easy to achieve. How did you achieve this proximity to the people?

Nicolas Graux: Mutual trust is the most important thing. Without it, there would be no film. It was far from easy to achieve, especially when it comes to the opium itself. Opium addiction is at the heart of the film, but it is only very late through the shooting process that Laosan actually allowed us to film him smoking. Like most of his fellow villagers, Laosan knows that the opium cultivation on which they subsist is illegal and violently repressed by the authorities, and there is a high degree of suspicion regarding any initiative or any person coming from the outside. But more than that, Laosan is extremely lucid about the damages his addiction causes to himself and to his loved ones — which makes him, I think, a truly tragic character. Even though opium-smoking is an integral part of the daily life and often happens in plain sight, there is a deep-rooted sense of shame, which was only possible to surpass by patiently building that mutual trust and strengthening it day after day. It’s work, it’s based on long-term companionship, communication, compassion…