The Weight of Mountains - Filmmakers Residency
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

 

December 2, 2025 – February 28, 2026

Applications open 2 May, 2025.
Applications close 2 June, 2025.

 Nếu bạn muốn nộp đơn bằng tiếng Việt, hãy gửi email đến twom.film@gmail.com

Funded and non-funded places available.

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The Weight of Mountains (TWOM) is a nomadic artist residency for filmmakers and screen based media artists, immersing artists in a new location every 2 - 4 years to make a new short film peice. In doing so, over decades we hope that TWOM will create a larger ongoing conversation about how humanity is intertwined with global environments. 

 

The residency program aims to bring together like minds with unique voices, perspectives, and backgrounds in film while enabling site and environment to act as a character, provocation, portal, or cinematic presence through immersion into global locations. We collaborate with local arts organisations, arts collectives, and/or local filmmakers. We try to harmonise the interests of filmmakers with the communities we take them to and contribute to the broader film community in each region.

 

Film and media arts tend to engage locations with an approach to cross-cultural connection that is not as easily seen in other arts practices; ethical lens based artists harbour a keen curiosity and a considerate thoughtfulness. As we reinvigorate the residency for 2025/2026, we’re inspired to reimagine The Weight of Mountains framework in Ho Chi Minh City — offering artists a provocative challenge: how can they engage with the layered complexity, cultural intersections, historical echoes, and contemporary energy distinct to Ho Chi Minh City?

 

While in the past The Weight of Mountains has immersed filmmakers into more remote and extreme environments we want to flip the script, exploring a new urban perspective. We believe Ho Chi Minh City’s dynamic environment invites the selected filmmakers to uncover personal resonances and consider global dialogues in film through genuine exchange across their film practices.  Meaningful cross-cultural dialogue is enabled on-site through collaboration with A Farm International Art Residency and RMIT University in Ho Chi Minh City. International participants and Ho Chi Minh City-based and Vietnamese filmmakers are encouraged to develop a rich exchange of ideas and perspectives. 

 

The residency focuses on professional development and includes:

• Three months accommodation, Dec 2, 2025 - Feb 28, 2026.

• Introductory dinner and screening with fellow residents

• A local film and media curator for on-site discussions

• Support from the Weight of Mountains team 

• A shared studio/hub-workspace at A Farm International Art Residency

• Symposium and local industry event hosted by TWOM and RMIT University Vietnam 

• An end-of-residency screening of film works held in collaboration with A Farm.

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The residency program importantly extracts filmmakers from their home-base contexts to enable focused opportunity for intensive processes and practice based professional development. It aims to innovate new discoveries in contemporary filmmaking, to initiate new artistic development, to facilitate progressive discussion in contemporary practice, to present new unique challenges for artists that push their boundaries or enable new adapted skill sets to emerge; and most importantly to connect like minded forward-thinking artists working in film today.

 

Cost of $5000 AUD/ $3200 USD will cover the residency program detailed above and accommodation from December 2 2025, until Feb 28 2026.

-There will be two supported places available for Vietnamese or South East Asian filmmakers.

-Additional costs of flights and living costs such as food, travel insurance and daily living expenses should be covered by the artist. We provide support letters for grant applications.

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To apply, click here

To download a summary of the application questions, click here

Past residencies and eligibility can be found here
For enquiries contact us!

APPLICATION DEADLINE: MIDNIGHT, JUNE 9, 2025.
(GMT+7) Time as per Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Note: We have extended the deadline from June 2nd, to June 9th.

All shortlisted applicants will be contacted for a Zoom interview mid-late June 2025.

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