Two Vietnamese films, "Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories" and "Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass," will be screened at the 68th Cannes Film Festival that will take place from May 13 to May 24.
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Phan Dang Di's "Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories," made with funding from the World Cinema Fund, tells the tale of young people trying to make ends meet on the streets of Saigon.
This isn't the first visit to Cannes for Di whose second film, "Bi, dung so!," won two prizes at the 2010 edition.
The other Vietnamese film that will be screened is Victor Vu’s “Yellow Flowers On The Green Grass,” an adaptation of Nguyen Nhat Anh’s best-selling novel I See Yellow Flowers Upon The Green Grass.
The movie follows the story of two brothers who share everything, including their affection for the same girl. It will be one of the first Vietnamese films that is set in the period between the end of the American War and the Doi Moi reforms that would lead to the country’s economic boom.
"There is a whole new wave of cinema emanating from Vietnam that captures the energy, dynamism, introspective story-telling, and cinematic/technical sophistication of that society, which is in transition," Fortissimo Films Chairman Michael J. Werner said in an interview with ScreenDaily. "Victor encapsulates all of those trends and with this project he is working to create a film that will surely capture the hearts and minds of cinema-goers around the globe."
Vu’s film was shot in the central province of Phu Yen and Saigon.
"I feel enthusiastic about the project," Vu said. "It is a return to my cinema origins, and reminds me of old stories in my family. The film project also brings me back to my days as a student."
We’ll see if either of these local films are able to win out over their stiff competition and take home a coveted Palme d'Or.
