The film Choi Voi (Lonely) will compete in the 66 th Venice Film Festival in early September, the first Vietnamese film to compete in the world’s oldest film, festival.

Choi Voi , directed by Bui Thac Chuyen ans starring Vietnamese-French actress Pham Linh Dan, along with Hai Yen, Ngo Thanh Van, and Johnny Nguyen, will take part in the Orizzonti, a festival programme of world premiere films giving an overview of new trends in cinema.

Two prizes, the Orissonti Award and Orizzonti DOC Award, will be presented in this section of the festival.

Produced by Feature Film Studio 1, Choi Voi tells the story of newlyweds Hai and Duyen (Hai Yen), the complex feelings between Duyen and her close girlfriend Cam (Pham Linh Dan), and the carnal passion between Duyen and Tho, a sexually attractive man.

Dan began her acting career at age 18, playing the adopted child of Catherine Deneuve in the film Indochine . She has also appeared in The Gamblers , Jamilla , and The Beat That My heart Skipped and won the Cesar Award from the Academy of French Arts and Movies in 2006.

Hai Yen is best-known for her role opposite Michael Caine in the Phillip Noyce film The Quiet American and she won Vietnam ’s Golden Kite Award for best actress in 2006 for the film Pao’s Story .

Choi Voi was produced in part with a grant of 211,000 USD from Fonds Sud Cinema of France and the Hebert Bals Fund of the Netherlands . It will screen premiere domesrtically later this year and take part in film festivals in Toronto , Vancouver and London .

Choi Voi was written by Phan Dang Di, whose short film when I am 20 competed last year in the short films section of the Venice festival./.