This January, doc cicada and The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam are happy to introduce our opening event of DOC CICADA 2021: The Southeast Asian Journal (No.2): Short films screening and talk with Varan Vietnam’s directors.

Varan Vietnam is a group of Vietnamese independent documentary filmmakers following and practicing direct documentary style. Madam Phung’s Last Journey (dir. Tham Thi Nguyen, 2014) and Finding Phong (dir. Thao Phuong Tran & Swann Dubus, 2015) are two most notable Varan Vietnam’s films that have been distributed at commercial theaters. Since 2004, in collaboration with Varan Paris, Varan Vietnam has opened several 3-month-direct documentary courses in many parts of Vietnam.

In this 2nd edition of The Southeast Asian Journal, we would love to present 03 shorts films that have been made in Varan Vietnam’s filmmaking courses.

Kiên (37’, 2006, dir. Đào Thanh Tùng)
Kien is a young contemporary Vietnamese painter, who already has a certain reputation. However, on a TV show, he declared himself a drug addict and infected with HIV-AIDS.

Bui (29’, 2005, dir. Nguyễn Thị Thúy Quyên)
Nowadays, an old woman, a little boy and a dog, all lived together on the streets of center Ho Chi Minh City. Everyday they wander around, picking up cardboard and plastic, selling them to the highest bidder.
Bui - the little boy, despite his young age, always looks for possible ways to maintain their life.

The lion dance (29’, 2005, dir. Đào Mộng Long)
In ChinaTown in Saigon, a father and a son are preparing for a special “lion dance”. While the father wants to keep the traditional dance, the son wants the renovation. He is determined to break his own record.

The program is in Vietnamese, with English subtitles for the films and interpretation for the talk.
We are honoured to welcome dir. Tran Phuong Thao (Varan Vietnam Manager) -offline, dir. Nguyen Thi Thuy Quyen and dir. Dao Mong Long- online, to join our Q&A session after the screening.

PROGRAM INFORMATION
The event is open for guests from 18h00.
Please register here: https://forms.gle/ESePVzz8WAKEcLvY6
(please show our receptionist the confirmation email which will be sent by us to your email this weekend. Please be on time to make sure your seats are filled before 6:30 PM as we will be open to guests on standby after 6:30PM)

The Southeast Asian Journal (No.2): Short films screening and talk with Varan Vietnam’s directors is part of our documentary filmmaking program, made possible by the partnership of the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam and the support of The Centre for Assistance and Development of Movie Talents TPD, Hanoi Doclab, Varan Vietnam and Ơ kìa Hà Nội.

For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/192736569225334