Cannes 2023: memorable time for Vietnamese directors

Director Pham Thien An and his team take a photo with Cannes Film Festival Director Thierry Frémaux (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Hanoi (VNA) – The 76th Cannes International Film Festival marks two important achievements of Vietnamese-French filmmaker Tran Anh Hung and director Pham Thien An.

The only Vietnamese film competing at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Ben Trong Vo Ken Vang (Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell) by director Pham Thien An, has received the Caméra d’Or Award.

It was among the list of 19 movies premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

The movie takes the audience on a journey of initiation through deep, rural Vietnam, with poetic overtones of an existential quest.

The film follows a man named Thien, who is tasked with delivering his sister-in-law’s body to their countryside hometown following a tragic motorcycle accident in Ho Chi Minh City. Accompanied by his nephew Dao, aged five and miraculously rescued from the accident, he finds his brother, who has been missing for several years.

Receiving the award on the stage of the Grand Lumière Theatre, the 34-year-old director sent his thank you to his wife.

Earlier, at its global premiere on May 24, when the screening ended, the cast and crew of Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell received a five-minute standing ovation.

IndieWire described it as a 'hypnotising Vietnamese drama goes on a quest for transcendence,’ and Variety Magazine mentioned it as part of ‘the Southeast Asian New Wave in the global film industry.’

The film will be released in cinemas on September 20, 2023.

Director An was already familiar with the Cannes Festival as he won the short film prize in 2019 for his one-shot movie Stay Awake, Be Ready.

Director Pham Thien An at the 76th Cannes International Film Festival (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Meanwhile, Vietnamese-born French director Tran Anh Hung won the Award for Best Director (Prix de la Mise en Scène) for his movie La Passion de Dodin Bouffant (The Pot au Feu).

 ‘The Pot-au-Feu’ was adapted from French author Marcel Rouff’s 1924 novel ‘La Vie et la passion de Dodin-Bouffant gourmet’ (The Passionate Epicure).

Set in 1885, the film depicts a romance between a chef named Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) and the gourmet named Dodin (Benoît Magimel), who have worked together for 20 years. Over time, a love affair develops between them, closely linked to their shared love of gastronomy. They create delicious, flavourful dishes that amaze the world's greatest gourmets.

Hung is best known for his Cannes’ Golden Camera-winning The Scent of Green Papaya in 1993 and Venice Golden Lion-winning Cyclo in 1995 – both are about and have set in Vietnam, where he was born and lived until he immigrated to France in 1975. 

Directors Tran Anh Hung and Pham Thien An at the 76th Cannes International Film Festival (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Some important awards at the 76th Cannes International Film Festival include