A new feature film examining the buried trauma of America’s “Secret War” in Laos is seeking co-producers and sales agents at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market , with production slated for 2026.

“ Rhizome ,” directed by Jakrawal Nilthamrong (Rotterdam winner “Vanishing Point,” Venice selection “Anatomy of Time”) and produced by Chatchai Chaiyon (“Manta Ray”), follows Na, a Lao-American woman who returns to her homeland in 1994 to join a bomb disposal team clearing unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War era. As she falls in love with Bua, a local team leader, Na confronts the violent legacy that continues to shape the scarred landscape.

The film opens in 1974 as civil war refugees flee toward the Thai border. When a young girl witnesses a traumatic incident involving her father and an

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