‘Onlookers’ Exclusive Trailer: Kimi Takesue’s Beautiful Documentary Debuts At Slamdance Next Month

For many, the idea of traveling to another country is fun and exciting. You just break out your camera, eat lots of good food, and interact with the locals, if you’re feeling adventurous. But that sort of attitude also discounts the very fact that foreigners can often be a disruptive force, interfering in the daily lives of locals while simultaneously treating them as some sort of spectacle. This is the exact relationship Kimi Takesue dissects in her upcoming documentary, “Onlookers.” 

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With “Onlookers” expecting to make its debut at next month’s Slamdance Film Festival, we’re excited to give our readers an exclusive look at the trailer for the visually-stunning documentary. As mentioned above, the film looks at the relationship between tourists and locals, specifically in the country of Laos. The filmmaker uses the beauty of Laos and its people to showcase just how tourism can have an effect on a country and its local people. We see tourists running up to take pictures of religious locations and the monks who are there, and a variety of other situations where disruption and tourism cross paths. 

“Onlookers” is directed by Kimi Takesue. She’s no stranger to premiering at Slamdance. Back in 2002, the filmmaker won the “Spirit of Slamdance” award for her film, “Heaven’s Crossroad.” Previously, she has worked on films such as “95 and 6 To Go” and “Where Are You Taking Me?” 

“Onlookers” debuts as part of the Slamdance Film Festival on January 21, 2023. You can watch the exclusive trailer below.

Here’s the synopsis:

ONLOOKERS offers a visually striking, immersive meditation on travel and tourism in Laos, reflecting on how we all live as observers. Traversing the country’s dusty roads and tranquil rivers, we watch as elaborate painterly tableaus unfold, revealing the whimsical and at times disruptive interweaving of locals and foreigners in rest and play. Drawn to spectacle, tourists swarm to magnificent Buddhist temples, the ordered rituals of monks, and sites of dazzling natural beauty, then recede like a passing tide, leaving Laotians to continue with their daily lives. ONLOOKERS transports viewers on a sensorial journey of deep looking and listening, inviting audiences to reflect on their own modes of tourism, while asking the looming existential questions: Why do we travel? What do we seek?