Raising A Beast
TFI Suppport
TFI Network 2018
Logline
In Laos, two Hmong siblings with diverging destinies are responsible for grooming a bull into a prize fighter that will earn the family money and honor.
Xaisongkham Induangchanthy
Director
Xaisongkham Induangchanthy is a Lao independent filmmaker. He discovered his passion for filmmaking when he studied mass communications in Singapore in 1999. In 2011, he joined ‘Lao New Wave Cinema’. In 2012, he was selected to participate in ‘Asian Film Academy’ (AFA) as part of the Busan International Film Festival, Korea. As part of the program, his script was also selected for the short film production. In 2015, he completed a master’s degree in filmmaking in New York City under the Fulbright Scholarship. His latest film, BECAUSE I AM A GIRL..., was recently aired on NHK, Japan.RAISING A BEAST is his debut feature film project. He’s based in Vientiane, Laos.
Abigail Lazaro
Producer
Abigail Lazaro is a Filipina producer and director with experience in documentaries, narrative films and television shows. She is an alumna of Asiadoc Producer’s Training by Lumiere Dumonde (2017). Currently, she is producing ALL GROWN UP A full length documentary by Wena Sanchez (in post-production, a Philippine-France co-production) and her own documentary among others; She has also done cultural and social work for several years at The National Commission for Culture and the Arts focusing on developing and promoting Philippine Cinema.
Steve Arounsack
Co-Producer
Steve Arounsack is an award-winning filmmaker and educator based in the U.S. With over 20 years of media experience across the production spectrum, his works have showcased on PBS (United States), television, at film festivals, and at national exhibitions. He directed GETTING LAO’D, a documentary that highlights the music and film revolution in Laos; it has screened at several major U.S. film festivals. He earned an Sony Electronics Faculty Award for Innovative Instruction with Technology, a prestigious national Gates Millennium Scholarship, and a Center for Asian American Media Fellowship. Additionally, he has organized numerous national and international film festivals. Dr. Arounsack is an associate professor of cultural anthropology at California State University, Stanislaus and serves as the director of the Keck Visual Anthropology Lab.