The Bamboo Bridge

Every dry season, a 1.5km bamboo bridge is built across the Mekong River in Cambodia and then dismantled after the monsoonal tides. In 2017, the bamboo bridge was built for the last time, when a massive new government- funded concrete bridge was inaugurated. Juan Salazar’s (Nightfall on Gaia, Antenna 2015) poetic, beautifully-shot film engages with three generations of bridge builders who share stories of this unique sustainable infrastructure and the diverse community economies it sustained. Focusing on the last master builder, Mr Oun, the film explores the intricacies of traditional forms of sustainable living. The river, the monsoon, the cycles of bamboo and the bridge all tell an urgent and ancient story. Are we listening?