Vietnamese animated film bridges generation gap at Cannes film festival

Hanoi (VNA) - From the story of generational conflicts in her family, Mai Vu and her crew created “Spring Roll Dream”, an animated film that was chosen over more than 1,500 rivals to compete for the La Cinef category and be screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2022 in late May.

The La Cinef honours works by students from film schools across the world. There were 1,528 submissions in this category, but only 16, including Mai’s, were nominated.

Although it did not win the category, there was still plenty of interest and anticipation from Vietnamese animation fans. It then earned Cannes’ Lights On Women award, with Hollywood actress Kate Winslet presenting it and a prize of 30,000 EUR (32,000 USD) to Mai. The award encourages female filmmakers to pursue their creativity and aspirations through short films.

The nine-minute stop-motion film focuses on the life of a Vietnamese family living in the US. Linh (voiced by Elyse Dinh) is a single mother who is building a stable life for her son Alan (Jarlan Bogolubov). Their family was turned upside down when her father, Mr Sang (People's Artist Bui Bai Binh) came to visit from his hometown.

For his grandchild, Sang asked that spring rolls be made, while Linh wanted to cook macaroni and cheese. When they couldn't agree on what to eat, the generational divide became clear.

Road to Cannes

In an interview with VietnamPlus, Mai said Spring Roll Dream was her graduation project at the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in the UK.

“We sent the film to many different festivals and unexpectedly it made its way to Cannes,” she said.

According to the young director, she spent two years of her course overseas for the animated work. In the first year, she came up with the idea for it and began building the character of a Vietnamese father who has a child living abroad.

“He was a rather lonely person who didn't really know how to express his emotions, so he poured all his love into cooking,” she unveiled.

In the second year, Mai started to assemble her nine-member team. They worked on the pre-production and the script for six months and then filmed and voiced Spring Roll Dream for eight months.

“In the context that there are big differences in life leading to misunderstandings and loss of connection in the family, causing a generation gap, I ask myself how to reconnect that divide? That inspired us to make this short film,” said Mai.

Mai stated that her father inspired the character of Mr Sang and the film was built not only from her experience but also from that of her friends and colleagues.

The female director also disclosed that Bui Bai Binh's familiar and inspirational voice evoked a character she was looking for – a father from the North who often finds it hard to express his emotions, but is full of love.

Advising young filmmakers, Mai said filmmaking is about showing that you have a voice and that you want to express that voice through the film medium.

“I think filmmakers, especially young ones, should not think about bringing films to the world. Do what's true to you first, make a good film,” she recommended./.