A remarkable documentary filmed over ten years provides an intimate look into the lives of Isaan women who moved abroad to marry foreign men but stayed deeply connected to their village homes. Defying widespread stereotypes of the mia farang (foreigner’s wife), the film offers a fresh and nuanced view on female migrants and transnational marriages.
Some 25 years ago, a woman named Sommai helped form an unlikely network linking Northeast Thailand with the sparsely populated region of Thy in northern Denmark. Becoming a matchmaker for the women of her rural village, she kicked off a migration trend that tied together over 900 Thai-Danish couples.
Filmed over ten years, Heartbound follows the lives of Sommai and five other Isaan women as they struggle to navigate a web of expectations, desires, and inequalities spanning across continents.
The documentary by Danish anthropologist Sine…
