A critically acclaimed Vietnamese movie which had taken home prizes at a few international film festivals has won its latest award at the Festival of the Three Continents in France.
“Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung” (Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere), a debut feature film by Vietnamese director Nguyen Hoang Diep, earned the jury’s Special Mention at the festival’s award presentation ceremony held on Monday night in France.
According to letterboxd.com, the Festival of the Three Continents, or “Festival des 3 Continents” in French, is an annual film fest held since 1979 in Nantes and is dedicated to the cinemas of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The festival also boasts Produire au Sud, or Producers of the South, a project that provides funding for independent film productions from the three continents.
This year’s festival kicked off last Tuesday as the 36th edition and wrapped up yesterday, December 2.
Aurelie Godet, one of the festival’s jurors, said he was impressed at the overwhelming emotions, elegance and femininity manifested in “Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung,” and particularly how the music is incorporated into the film.
Diep told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that she was so stunned that not until the jurors called out her film’s name three times did she believe it and respond to the call.
Partly at a loss for words, she sang a meaningful Vietnamese song instead of delivering a conventional thank-you speech.
Her film was screened at six different sessions during the festival and was considered one of the strongest contenders.
“Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung” drew huge crowds of audiences at the 3rd Hanoi International Film Festival late last month and 2014 AFI FEST in Hollywood, which closed in mid-November this year.
AFI FEST is the American Film Institute’s annual celebration of international cinema from modern masters and emerging filmmakers.
Hundreds of people who were unable to get free tickets for the screenings of the 99-minute film during the Hanoi International Film Festival insisted that they be allowed to take supplementary seats or even sit on the floor or stand along the aisles.
The high-profile film won the jury’s award for feature films at the festival.
“Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung” also won Best Film in the International Critics’ Week – a program for debut films at the 2014 Venice International Film Festival held in September.
The film earned its 32-year-old director the Best Director prize, one of the major awards given away at the 16th International Film Festival Bratislava in Slovakia, which also concluded in mid-November this year.
Produced by VBlock Media, a Vietnamese company, in coordination with French, German and Norwegian partners, “Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung” was earlier shown at the Cannes Film Festival and competed at several other international film fests, including Busan and Toronto, this year.
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Đăng ký: VietNam News