Ròm

14-year-old Rom (Tran Anh Khoa) is a runner. That is, he runs lottery numbers for the indebted inhabitants of a dilapidated tenement, a network of interconnected homes soon to be demolished by greedy developers. The bookie climbs and zips through its many alleys, down streets, up balconies and staircases and other unstable contraptions – in order to be the first to give his clients’ numbers to the teller. Doing so, he hopes to amass enough money to finally meet his parent one day… But between his rivalry with Phuc (Nguyen Phan Anh Tu), who will not hesitate to backstab his friend, the approaching eviction of his community, and encounters with gangsters, life is anything but easy. In fact, the wellbeing of the entire neighbourhood might just be in Rom’s young hands. (Fantasia International Film Festival)