Berlin film festival to have first-ever Vietnamese director as entrant

The Berlin International Film Festival will have for the first time ever a Vietnamese film director compete for a major prize in its 65th edition next month.

“Cha, Con va…” (Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories) created by internationally acclaimed director Phan Dang Di will be one of the entries in the “Competition” category of the 2015 Berlin festival, according to the organizer.

The director has also confirmed this news.

One of the world’s three largest film fests after Oscar and Cannes, the Berlin International Film Festival will be organized from February 5 to 15.

The Vietnamese flick will compete with 14 other films, including two Asian representatives from China and Iran, in the category.

“Cha, Con Va…” is set in Ho Chi Minh City in the early 1990s and revolves around young people during Vietnam’s transition to a market-oriented economy.

In July 2014, Di’s film became the third Vietnamese picture to receive a grant – worth €40,000 – from the World Cinema Fund (WCF), which was formed in 2004 by the Berlin International Film Festival.

The fund earmarks an annual budget of approximately €400,000 for supporting exclusively the production and distribution of feature films and feature-length documentaries from Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Caucasus, according to its website.

In 2008, “Bi, Dung So!” (Bi, Don’t Be Afraid!), another film by Di, was the first local film project to secure a fund – €50,000 – from the WCF.

Four years later, “Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung” (Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere), produced by Di and directed by Nguyen Hoang Diep, became the second Vietnamese film to win a sponsorship – €50,000 – from the WCF.

“Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung” took home a critics’ prize at the 2014 Venice International Film Festival, along with some other international prizes.

Di’s “Bi, Don’t Be Afraid!” also won the International Critics Week’s prize at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival though it sparked controversy at home over its topic matter and sensitive images.

“Tiec Trang Tron” (Full-Moon Party), Di’s third independent film project, collected a prize in the Asian Project Market (APM) category of the Busan International Film Festival – one of Asia’s largest – in October 2104.

“Cha, Con Va…”, “Bi, Dung So!”, and “Tiec Trang Tron” all dwell on troubled father-son relationships and generational gaps.

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