Van Ditthavong drove 5,000 miles in 21 days to photograph everyone he needed for “In Our Backyard,” a feature about immigrants that ran in the November 2010 issue of Texas Monthly. Back then, Ditthavong, who was born in Laos but grew up outside Washington, D.C., was in Dallas, working as a freelance photographer for various magazines.
He left in 2011 after a stint in Cowtown and now lives in Los Angeles. But the work he undertook in the Lone Star State, and particularly that marathon trip, during which he captured portraits of folks far and wide, left a mark on him. “I didn’t want the faces to end,” he said, so he began to make up his own story.
It led to his first feature film, Sleeping in Plastic, a grim story about a small-town wrestler who gets mixed up with a lover and a drifter. It’s set in — you guessed it — rural Texas, though filming took place in Harrah, Okla., about 20 miles east of downtown Oklahoma City. Ditthavong wrote and directed it. Red Sanders of Fort Worth-based Red Productions produced, along with Derek D. Brown.
The film premiered at the Austin Film Festival last month, and shortly after, hit the Mallorca International Film Festival in Spain. Last week, Ditthavong was back in Fort Worth for the Lone Star Film Festival. His film showed on opening night, Wednesday.
It’s now full steam ahead on the rest of the festival circuit. Next stop: Chandler International Film Festival in Arizona, which kicks off in mid-January.
