Hà Lệ Diễm

Di is a 12-year-old girl from the mist-shrouded mountains of northern Vietnam. She belongs to the Hmong, an ethnic minority in which girls get married at a very young age. This is often preceded by a controversial “bride-napping,” where the girl is abducted by her future husband on New Year’s Eve. Negotiations between the families follow. This also happened to Di’s sister and their mother, so it doesn’t seem strange that in preparation the women and girls discuss sex and married life without embarrassment. But Di also goes to school, where she learns very different values. And in her own way, even Di’s mother tries to warn her daughter about child marriage.

Dear Mom tells the story of Song, a 11 year-old Hmong girl who has been trying to come to term with her mother’s absence in the last six years, while growing up in the Northwestern mountains. Presenting as a letter written by Song, the film offers a look into the emotional hardships as well as the social challenges that children who come across such unfortunate circumstances endure yet still are managing to overcome.