Worker’s Dream (2006)

Young women from the countryside dream of becoming workers in the city of Hanoi. Having travelled far by bus, they find themselves stuck in a limbo between temporary and low-paying jobs even after paying high job agency fees. Stemming from the first Vietnamese edition of French documentary workshop Ateliers Varan, Worker’s Dream exposes the struggle of the working class in a cut-throat capitalistic environment, where profit is synonymous with progress. It attempts to portray female characters as both juggling with their lives and having autonomy through direct interaction with the camera. Walking while they dream and dreaming while they walk, these women bear witness to a seemingly futuristic and bygone Vietnam, and to them, in their words, “(I thought I was lost in) another world.” Worker’s Dream was the debut feature of Trần Phương Thảo, a notable figure of Vietnamese independent documentary following in the cinéma-vérité practice.