Private Project

Vibrant Highland, Commercial Love

“It’s a story of wild & exotic love. It’s a story of tribal kings and opium trade. It’s a story of kidnapping and loss. It’s a story of sexual discovery, of spirits and magic. It’s a story of government propaganda vs. the fascinating yet harrowing reality of the people.”

Far up in Vietnam’s remote mountains, once a year, a secretive Love Market is held. Delving beyond the ambiguous myths, this unique, independently produced adventure documentary discovers a reality much more fascinating, even if painful, than the legends told.

  • Matt Dworzanczyk
    Director
    DPRK: The Land of Whispers
  • Matt Dworzanczyk
    Producer
    DPRK: The Land of Whispers
  • Gerry Herman
    Producer
    The Scarlet Worm
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    Adventure, Travel, Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 29 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Viet Nam
  • Country of Filming:
    Viet Nam
  • Language:
    English, Other, Vietnamese
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16.9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Matt Dworzanczyk

Born in then-communist Poland, educated in the heart of cinema industry in the USA, and in the recent years based in rapidly changing Vietnam, Matt is a truly international director and producer, with some hundred film, TV and video projects behind his belt.

"Marlin", Matt's first film - a short, dark fairy tale went on to win the "Excellence in Filmmaking" award at Canada Int'l Film Festival.

His eye-opening North Korea documentary, "DPRK: The Land of Whispers" has been seen by over 2.5 million people online, winning a number of awards including "Best Feature Film" at the Third World Indie Film Festival and attracting plenty of international controversy, even resulting in death threats from North Korea.

Matt's most recent production of "Vibrant Highland, Commercial Love" continues to ruffle feathers as Matt manages to reach deeper than even mainstream int'l media, uncovering the conspiracy behind Vietnam's secretive Love Market and discovering a fascinating even if often harrowing world behind the legends.

Matt was a participant in the project Market of Hanoi's Int'l Film Festival (ran in cooperation with Berlinale) where he developed his feature screenplay for "Baby Blue Eyes", a fantasy drama about an infertile couple raising a plastic baby doll, which was later shortlisted for participation in both Sundance Labs and the Screenwriting Market at Berlinale.

Some of the recurring themes in Matt's works include childhoods, homosexuality, dreams, travel, social isolation, drugs and existentialism. He continues to explore those in his new feature screenplay, "Cripple Crows", being written during Matt's solo motorbike journey across the world, which he is currently undertaking.

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