Viet films here! Get your Viet films here!
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008A boat-people documentary comes to Chapman University, and the Bowers Museum presents a series of pictures by Vietnamese-American filmmakers, proving that there is such a thing as what the Austin Asian Film Festival calls a “Viet Film Wave.”
Documentary film “Bolinao 52,” a moving story of a boat person going back to the place of the greatest tragedy in her life, will be shown at the the Folino Theater at the Chapman Film School tomorrow, April 4, at 5:30 p.m.
The address is 283 N. Cypress St., Orange, CA 92866. Mapquest here.
Directed by Duc Nguyen, the documentary film follows Tung Trinh as she re-lives the horrors of a trip on dingy fishing boat escaping communist Vietnam. The tiny craft in which was crowded 110 people lost its engine. Passing ships ignored them, and after 19 days a U.S. Navy vessel stopped and provided them with water and fuel, but the captain refused to pick up the dying refugees. After 37 days at sea, only 52 survived to land in the Philippines. They had had to resort to cannibalism to survive.
The showing is free and sponsored by the Vietnamese-American Law Student Association (VALSA). Speaking after the screening will be director Duc Nguyen; Chapman Law School’s Associate Dean Timothy Canova; and Professor Marisa Cianciarulo, Director of Chapman’s Family Violence Clinic.
Next: The Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA) and Bowers Museum present THE VIET FILM WAVE, a compelling three-film series and symposium with the filmmakers, with the first screening scheduled for this Sunday.
The screenings at the Bowers are not free. According to a press release from VAALA, “admission for screenings is $10 general and $8 for Bowers Museum ’s members; $5 for film symposium.”
The screenings and the symposium will be held in the gorgeous Norma Kershaw Auditorium at Bowers Museum , 2002 N. Main St, Santa Ana , CA 92706, Telephone: 714-567-3695. Mapquest here. Tickets will be available at the door.
The three films featured in the Viet Film Wave series are: The Owl and the Sparrow (director Stephane Gauger, whose mother is Vietnamese), Journey from the Fall (director Ham Tran), and Buffalo Boy (director Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo).
Excerpts from VAALA’s press release, about the films and the symposium with the filmmakers:
Sunday, April 6 – 3:30PM
OWL AND THE SPARROW (Cú và Chim Se S?) (poster shown at left)
Vietnam/USA 2007/90 minutes/Vietnamese with English subtitles/Stephane Gauger, Writer and Director; Orange Country Premiere
A modern-day Saigon tale of the encounter between a lonely zookeeper, a beautiful flight attendant looking for love, and the young girl, a runaway, who brings them all together. Universal in its story, particular in its vibrant scenes of Vietnam , this is the poignant tale of yearning, love, and commitment.
Admission: general $10; members $8Sunday, April 20 – 3:30PM
JOURNEY FROM THE FALL (V??t Sóng) (photo right, as featured on Saigon Houston Weekly magazine)
Thailand/USA 2005/134 minutes/Vietnamese with English subtitles/Ham Tran, Director
Inspired by the true story of Vietnamese refugees, the film follows one family’s struggle for freedom as they flee their country after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and chronicles those who were forced to stay behind. Journey from the Fall has won over ten awards at film festivals around the world and Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter called it, “A movingly rendered, stirringly photographed first feature.”
Admission: general $10; members $8Sunday, May 4 – 3:30PM
BUFFALO BOY (Mùa Len Trâu) (photo below)
France , Belgium , Vietnam 2004/102 minutes/Vietnamese with English subtitles/Directed by Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo
In this powerful coming-of-age story set in rural 1940s Vietnam , a young man from a poor family is sent by his father to find grass for their two starving buffalos. Before long, he takes up with a rough and dangerous band of buffalo herders and discovers freedom, adventure, and love—but also secrets about his past that will change his life forever.
Admission: general $10; members $8Friday, May 9
7:30 PM Reception
8:00 PM Symposium
VIET FILM WAVE: SYMPOSIUM
As a culmination of the Viet Film Wave series, this special evening brings the directors, Stephane Gauger, Ham Tran, and Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo, and some of the films’ cast members together for a time of dialogue, discussion, and shared responses to the three films screened at the Bowers. The museum will host a reception prior to the symposium.
Admission: $5
