Film & TV course leader on shooting his documentary in Laos
29 July 2025
Armed with a smartphone, gimbal and radio mics, MA Film & Television (Online) course leader Jem Mackay recently set off with his daughter to the Laos countryside to begin filming Breaking Poverty. The documentary explores how community-led training at the Mekong Vocational Centre is driving long-term change.
“Many rural communities in Laos continue to face multidimensional poverty, which includes limited access to education and healthcare,” Jem explained. “That’s where skills-based, community-led training becomes a powerful tool for lasting change.”
The project saw Jem interview 40 people in just five days, from students and staff at the centre to international workers and embassy representatives. What he found were deeply personal stories that stood on their own merit.
“A script could not manufacture the authenticity and emotional weight of these stories,” Jem said. “One student was visibly emotional in the interview as she described her hope for a better future. Another beamed happily as she showed me how she would now be able to support her family through sewing.”
Reflecting on his time filming, Jem added, “Rural life in Laos is tough, but I was struck by how much happiness coexisted with hardship.” The visual storytelling blends sweeping views of the Laos landscape with close-ups of hands sewing fabric, planting seeds or moving boulders. “One particularly revealing sequence is an interview with a farmer in his mountain village, describing how idyllic his life is, in the mountains.”
Reflecting on the experience, Jem notes that the support these communities need is not just financial. It is about creating partnerships that recognise their strengths and aspirations. As he continues editing the film, it is the people and their stories that stay with him most.
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