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The young filmmakers of Laos come from a very different culture than most Cinemasports teams, but they share a passion for filmmaking.

These young filmmakers are students of The Lone Buffalo Foundation. Lone Buffalo runs an English language school, football program, and video projects for young people in the town of Phonsavan in the Northeast of the country. The young filmmakers, age 13 - 18, have already screened movies at the Vientiane Film Festival.

The Cinemasports team is lead by student Teng Vu, who has now participated in two Cinemasports events. Teng Vu has done an great job of organizing his team and communicating with event organizers with English gleaned from his years as a Lone Buffalo student. Lone Buffalo provides important gear, infrastructure, and instruction that enable Teng Vu's team.

Lone Buffalo was founded in 2011 in memory of local English teacher, translator, and football coach Manophet, who started the work that Lone Buffalo continues today. In fact, Lone Buffalo was Manophet's nickname. Operations started under Brits Mark Steadman and Nick Williamson. Mark still runs operations today.

Many students also participate in Lone Buffalo's football (American soccer) program. In fact, Lone Buffalo's team is the first Laos football team to play in Europe. A documentary film, "On Safer Ground", chronicles the journey of these trailblazers. Football obviously influenced the subject of Lone Buffalo's current Cinemasports entry titled "I am Messi".

On Safer Ground Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QkGLZSObdw
Watch FIFA feature on Lone Buffalo: http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/video/video=2503774/index.html

Laos is a dynamic country transitioning to a modern economy from a legacy of relative isolation. Laos has been under single party Marxist rule since the war in Southeast Asia in the 1960's and 1970's (often called the Vietnam War in the USA). While many of the students' parents are simple rice farmers, many of the students hope to attend University in the capital, Vientiane. Lone Buffalo is helping prepare these students to communicate with wider international community.

The young filmmakers of Lone Buffalo live in the most heavily bombed country in the world. Between 1964 and 1973, the United States dropped around 2.5 million tons of bombs on Laos, and 75 Million Bombs Remain (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/laos-vietnam-war-us-bombing-uxo). The Lone Buffalo students live in a province particularly affected with UXO, unexploded ordinance. Lone Buffalo is helping create opportunity for youth of many Laos ethnic communities. Notable among these ethnic groups are the Hmong, who suffered persecution after allying themselves with the Americans during the war. Their community has rebounded in recent years, and Lone Buffalo is expanding horizons for Hmong and all Laos ethic groups in their region.

Interesting Cultural Practice:
During filming, the team breaks for lunch with several kilos of steaming sticky rice. The rice is shared around and served with spicy dips, fish paste or meat - all eaten with fingers of course! Sticky rice (Khao neow) is the staple food for Laotians. The average Laotian eats 160 kilos of rice a year!

Lone Buffalo
www.facebook.com/lonebuffalo

NPR article
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/03/09/391874023/the-lone-b...

Watch 'Ham Jaap' by Lone Buffalo students with visiting filmmaker Jon Witsell https://vimeo.com/120590604

Lone Buffalo vimeo channel.
https://vimeo.com/channels/560896