At the 76th Cannes International Film Festival, Phạm Thiên Ân's Bên trong vỏ kén vàng (Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell) was awarded the Camera D'or while Vietnamese-born French filmmaker Trần Anh Hùng won the best director prize for The Pot-au-Feu.
After receiving standing ovations when shown as part of the festival's Directors’ Fortnight category, Bên trong vỏ kén vàng received the Camera D'or (Golden Camera) which is given to the best first feature film. The only Vietnamese-language movie at the festival this year, it tells the story of Thiện and his journey to bring the body of his sister-in-law to her rural highland hometown after an accident in Saigon.
The director explained to Dân Việt that the film is an exploration of the differences in daily life and rhythms between the city and Lâm Đồng as well as a rumination on one's search for purpose in life.
"'Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,' is a spellbinding tale of the soul’s unfathomable desire for the other-worldly, that does itself border on transcendental in its filmmaking and gradual blurring of apparent truth and suggested fantasy," noted film critic Josh Slater-Williams in a praise-filled review for IndieWire last week. While critics have emphasized that the three-hour film will most appeal to art house enthusiasts, its cinematography and probing questions were widely praised.
in 2019, Phạm Thiên Ân was awarded Canne's Illy Short Film Prize for the 14-minute Hãy Tỉnh Thức và Sẵn Sàng (Stay Awake, Be Ready). Born in 1989 and raised in Vietnam, he moved to Texas recently with his family to continue making films.
Meanwhile, the festival last week was also a triumph for Trần Anh Hùng, best known for his 1993 film The Scent of the Green Papaya which won the Camera D'orthirty years ago. Set in 19th-century France, The Pot-au-Feu lovingly obsesses over foodie culture, including an unprecedented 40-minute cooking scene. It is loosely based on Marcel Rouffe’s 1924 novel The Passionate Epicure.
"This film is my declaration of love to the French, to the French’s spirit which is so magnificent," Trần Anh Hùng said during the film's premiere on Wednesday. The 60-year-old filmmaker, who moved to France at the age of 14, noted in a recent interview with Variety that he "would love to make a film in Vietnam with an entirely feminine cast."
There is no word on if or when either film will be available for screening in Vietnam.
[Top photo via BBC]
