Fra Thy til Thailand

In Thy, a region in northern Denmark, more than 500 Thai women have arrived over the past 15 years, invariably as brides of Danish men. Sommai, a former employee in the sex industry of Pattaya, has married Niels, who owes his renewed high spirits to her. Together with a number of compatriots, Sommai works in a fish factory. She tries to help her niece Kae find a husband after the latter arrives in Denmark on a temporary tourist visa. Before Kae is paired off with the stiff bachelor Kjeld, she learns elementary expressions by heart, from "Good morning" to "I have a headache." The film is both detached and intimate: it often shows the women in close-up, but it's hard to know what's on their minds, especially because they're masters at keeping silent. This contradiction is also in the subject: how Western men and Eastern women try to accomplish something as intimate as a personal relationship while staying composed and calculating. Each party has something to offer that the other can't find at home. In many cases, it turns out that the language barrier is easily negotiated by the universal language of love. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)