Mattie Do

Biography: 

- Born: Los Angeles, CA

- Childhood: dreamt of being a ballet dancer, but didn't think it was realistic

- Education: cosmetology school

- Rome, Italy: met husband, worked on his film sets doing hair and makeup

- Utah: director of the Salt Lake City Ballet Conservatory

- Los Angeles, CA: visiting brothers

- Move to Laos: 2010, started working with Lao Art Media

“Genre film seems to be a lot more accepting of rough around the edges. The audiences of genre films just want to see something unique. [...] Genre film is also a lot more diverse. You can get white folks to sit down and read subtitles if it’s a genre film. They’ll read subtitles to the ends of the earth if it’s J-horror or K-thriller.”

Filmography:

1. Chanthaly (2012)

- first horror film written/directed entirely in Laos

- first Lao movie to be screened at a film festival outside of Southeast Asia

- Do shot the entire movie in her house

2. Dearest Sister (2016)

- first time Laos submitted a film for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category

3. The Long Walk (2019)

- premiered at Venice International Film Festival

- Do won "best director" at the 45th Boston Science-Fiction Film Festival

**All films focus on generational trauma and unresolved family issues brought to the surface by supernatural horror elements

The Long Walk (2019) trailer

Cultural Climate

LAO FILM INDUSTRY

- only 17 feature films ever made

- run-down cinemas and theaters

- Lao Art Media is the oldest production company in the country

AID FROM DEVELOPED COUNTRY

- 90% of money sent to Laos comes from aids/charities/other foundations

- NGO's/charities determine who is successful

- they choose certain people to give scholarships and grants, then give them lots of publicity and take all the credit for "spotting their talent"

- attitude of white saviorism/colonialism

FIRST WOMAN IN LAOS TO MAKE A FEATURE FILM

- critics thought being a woman was Do's only merit

- Chanthaly was also the first ghost movie from Laos, so many thought its novelty/shock factor was the only reason it was successful

Challenges

NOT CONSIDERED FULLY LAOTIAN

- "You're not authentic enough to make a Lao film."

- because Mattie was not fully Laotian and instead part Vietnamese and Thai and a US citizen, many people thought she wasn't fully immersed in the culture

LOOKED DOWN ON FOR NO FILM EXPERIENCE

- Lao New Wave Cinema

    - people who had gotten their film degrees from really good schools and were very experienced

- Europeans/Americans sending aid

    - people with money and in charge didn't approve of her, so they used her little film experience as a critique

WASN'T ALLOWED TO COMPETE FOR CERTAIN GRANTS

- The people with money and in charge had the power to make sure Do was barred from receiving financial support

- But she was able to get support from outside film festivals and other producers/companies

“After I made my first film, there was a lot of criticism. And then the film didn’t resemble anything that anyone recognized. It wasn’t that humanitarian, NGO propaganda that they wanted. It wasn’t poverty porn. […] But I decided to make another film, which was really interesting because then everybody was waiting for me to fail. Because, like I said, they thought I was a one-off and that my first film was just very novel. And so when I made the second film, it kind of proved that it wasn’t just luck. I had something to say.”

Impact on Horror & Film

1. More support/exposure for Laotian films

2. Acceptance of horror/supernatural themes

3. Censorship more relaxed in Laos

4. Asian women in horror have gained more representation

Works Cited

Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra. 1000 Women in Horror: 1896-2018. BearManor Media, 2020. 

“Mattie Do.” IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5621501/.

“Mattie Do, Laos’ Only Female Filmmaker, Is Making History and Shaking up the Country’s Film Industry.” South China Morning Post, 30 Dec. 2019, https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3043710/mattie-do-laos-only-female-filmmaker-making-history-and.  

Oller, Jacob. “Mattie Do and The Long Walk to Laotian Horror.” Pastemagazine.com, Paste Magazine, 10 Mar. 2022, https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/mattie-do-the-long-walk-laos-horror/.