Abstract:

For 200 years groups of Lahu have been migrating from southwestern China into the highlands of Southeast Asia's 'Golden Triangle' region. Though they share much with other migrants in the ethnic patchwork of the region, the Lahu maintains a vigorous sense of themselves as a distinct people. New Years is their prime time for celebrating what it means to be Lahu. CANDLES FOR NEW YEARS is the first visual portrait of Lahu life prepared for English-speaking viewers. Host commentator for the program, anthropologist, Jacquetta Hill, has followed for more than a decade the fate of a group of Lahu who cleared the forest and built a community on a site north of Chiang Mai. CANDLES FOR NEW YEARS was designed and directed by David W. Plath and recorded on location in 1992. The program was produced by a multicultural team of Lahu, Thai, Japanese and Americans.