December 2018 I joined Morgan Freeman when he covered Hanoi. What a wonderful down-to earth person, spontaneous, generous and collegiate. Here is a snapshot when we first met in Hanoi.
Morgan in a temple in Hanoi:
Later I went with the crew to the boarder to China and Laos doing the more hardcore adventure stuff. First with a prop plane:
Then four hours with four-wheel drives to the village of De Tau, Dien Bien province, Vietnam:
Kids watching an important Asian soccer champianship:
We visited La Sung Thi, a traditional shaman of the ethnic minority of the Hmung (also called Mung). La (first name), 94 years old, is a member of the “variety” Hmong, or Leng Hmong. I was here to observe a ritual and to conduct interviews for the Morgan Freeman’s National Geographic documentary. Here are some mages I took of people in the village:
Of course, I was eager to get some images of me in the ritual and during the interview. If you are on camera it is obviously not opportune to flic your own camera making selfies. Asking for some photographs, I received the polite response. Hey Andreas, you get a hole National Geographic production about you. Yes, this was absolutely correct. However, the local producer was so kind leaving me two of her informal snapshots of me conducting the interview.
La's granson and our translator:
Before the ritual:
The ritual that I was well beyond the pale. I knew that things get colorful when they started to provide “offerings”. Well, let’s see how they cut the materials for a general audience to air this Spring. After the ritual I intervierwed La, the schaman:
Having the resources – e.g translator, travel arrangements, local fixers, scouting – provided an epic opportunity for me to learn about shamanism and the Hmung. Can’t wait to see the finished documentary.