POV creates award-winning documentary, Children Of The Mist, about shocking cultural practices that see girls kidnapped and forced into marriage

EXCLUSIVE: pov acquired the Oscar-nominated documentary Children of the MassA film that explores a disturbing tradition among Vietnam’s Hmong minority of girls being kidnapped and forced into marriage.

First feature director Hà Lệ Diễm’s vérité film premieres as part of the PBS series povis 36^e season starting in summer. The film’s main character is Di, a 12-year-old Hmong girl living in rural northern Vietnam, who casually flirts with a boy and then becomes the target of a kidnapping that could determine the rest of her life.

The Guardian called the documentary “shocking” and gave it four stars. In a review for The New York Times, critic Beatrice Loayza wrote: “‘Bridal naps’ is a Hmong custom that allows boys, often with the help of their families, to grab girls and hold them for three days. During this time the girl can decide whether she wants to go through with the marriage, although in practice refusal can be challenged by force. This is the rule in this area: Di’s mother and older sister also took a nap.’

Di has few weapons to defend: access to education that gives her a sense of possibility outside of those limiting traditions, and the filmmaker himself, who calls Di when her captors try to drag her away.

“The director’s care and sensitivity is evident in this remarkable film.” pov Chris White, executive producer, said in a statement. “Through Diễm’s intimate lens, one cannot help but embrace the fiery Di and fear for her future as Hmong traditions threaten her independence.”

Diễm commented: “Children of the Mass is a very personal film and at the same time my first feature film. The fact that it was chosen to stand alongside the other Prestige films pov TV series are hard for me to imagine. So I want to say thank you very much for all the love and appreciation.”

The film had its world premiere in 2021 at IDFA, the famous documentary film festival in Amsterdam, where Diễm won the award for best director and the First Appearance Award – Special Mention. Children of the Mass won Best International Film at DocAviv in 2022 and the Documentary Jury Prize at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2022.

The Children of the Mass Deal was written by Chris White and Erika Dilday for American Documentary | negotiate povand Demetri Makoulis, Vice President of Sales at Film Movement.

The documentary is produced by Swann Dubus and Trần Phương Thảo; Dubus also edited the film. Executive producers are White and Dilday for American Documentary | pov. Director Hà Lệ Diễm was born in the mountains of northeastern Vietnam in 1991 as a member of the Tay ethnic minority. She studied journalism at Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities and graduated in 2013. She is a fellow of the Sundance Institute Documentary Program.