From right to left, producers Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, Duong Dieu Linh and Le Quynh Anh are pictured with Locarno Film Festival awards (Photo courtesy of SEAFIC) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese film makers have won a number of prizesat a European film festival.
Culi Never Cries, the debut drama by Pham Ngoc Lan, won two prizes in the OpenDoors section of Locarno Film Festival held in Locarno, Switzerland.
The movie picked up the ARTE International Open Doors and Sorfond Awards,according to the Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab.
Meanwhile, film project Tro Tan Ruc Ro (Glorious Ashes) by director Bui ThacChuyen and producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc won the CNC Prize.
Young directors Duong Dieu Linh and Le Quynh Anh won the Moulin d’André-CEC andRotterdam Lam awards respectively.
According to Variety, Culi Never Cries has impressed the international mediawhen it was introduced in Open Doors programme within the Swiss film festival.
The film tells the story of Lady M., a blue-collar retiree in Vietnam,returning to Berlin after learning that her estranged German husband has died.He has left behind an urn with his ashes and a dog named Cu Li.
After coming back to Vietnam, she finds that her pregnant niece is rushing intomarriage. Fearing that she will commit the same life mistakes as she did whenshe was young, Lady M. embarks on a journey retracing her memories, evoking Vietnam’spast.
Culi Never Cries was previously screened at Cannes’ Cinefondation L’Atelier,Busan’s Asian Project Market, SEAFIC x PAS, Produire au Sud’s Southeast Asiaworkshop, and Talents Tokyo.
To Glorious Ashes by filmmaker Chuyen, CNC Prize has enriched its internationalawards.
Adapted from short stories by renowned Vietnamese writer Nguyen Ngoc Tu, thefilm won Busan Award in Asian Project Market of Busan International FilmFestival 2017. It was also presented at Cannes’ Cinefondation L’Atelier 2018.
Also in Locarno Film Festival this year, Nha Cay (The Tree House) by director TruongMinh Quy was screened in the category for new film talents and Dap Canh GiuaKhong Trung (Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere) by director Nguyen Hoang Diep willbe screened on August 15 in Open Doors Screening.
The Locarno Film Festival has been held annually Locarno, Switzerland since1946. It is considered as one of the longest-running film festivals renownedfor being a prestigious platform for art house movies.
Running in the festival’s Locarno Pro section, Open Doors is designed to“assist independent film making and showcase directors and films from countriesin the global South and East”, says the festival. - VNS/VNA
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