Singer Nhat Kim Anh was granted the Best Actress award at the Viet Nam International Film Festival for her role in Long Thanh Cam Gia Ca (The Fate of a Songstress in Thang Long). She talked with Minh Thu about her award.
How did you feel when the Best Actress prize was announced?
I couldn't believe my ears, because I knew the title would only go to one excellent actress, and I assumed it belonged to Fiona Sit from Hong Kong. When the speaker repeated my name and the people surrounding me began to offer their congratulations, only then did I realise I had won the prize.
I was dumbstruck and really nervous on stage. My heart was racing and I couldn't breathe properly.
I'm a singer and have only taken part in a few films. I thought that the film would receive some recognition at the festival, but never dreamed that I'd win a prize.
I'm quite modest about the award though, just because I won it, doesn't mean I'm an excellent actress, I've still got to work at improving my performances.
Can you share some memories about the film shoot?
The film was made over three months in eight provinces. I had a scene bathing in a very cold weather with heavy rain. It was freezing! When the director shouted "cut", people covered me up with piles of blankets as I was shivering due to the cold.
Once in the northern province of Bac Giang, we were shooting in a windy location, and while taking our lunch break, a gust of wind blew our food away.
You're a thoroughly modern beauty, how did you go about portraying Cam, a young songstress from the 18th-century feudal period?
Some people weren't convinced by director Dao Ba Son's choice of me for the role of Cam, but he saw Cam in me. She and I have many things in common. First, we are both singers, and we had to live far from our families from an early age. Even though I speak with a southern accent, my way of speaking still bears some northern features because I was born in the central province of Thanh Hoa.
I read the script many times, and was moved and then totally convinced by Cam. My greatest worry was whether I could bring myself to only cry from one eye as Cam does. I practised many days in front of the mirror with a timer, so as I could concentrate my emotions and cry within the required timeframe.
At first I cried with both eyes, but after three days, I started practising to repress my feelings, and then could push myself to only cry with the right eye because it is more sensitive than the left.
When watching film, the audience will see Cam's tears slowly running from one eye as she explains that she allows "one eye to cry, one eye to see the life". If we had used eye drops, my eyes could not have replicated that effect and would have become red.
What are your views on your role?
Cam was a beautiful and skilful songstress in Thang Long. She met poet Nguyen Du and they empathised and respected each other in terms of their talents for playing instruments and constructing verse. Sadly they didn't have a happy ending.
I think I successfully portrayed her through different periods in her life, when she was 16, 26 and 40 years old, with different appearance and emotions.
I undertook painstaking preparations to portray the role, including learning chau van (spiritual music) and playing the dan nguyet (moon-shaped four-string instrument).
In your opinion, what was the secret to the success of the film?
Well, the film was based on the poetry of Nguyen Du, a great poet, so it's pure Vietnamese, and contains the beauty of traditional culture, literature, customs and the people's lifestyles. The film reflects images representing Viet Nam's countryside.
Have you got any more film roles planned?
Next year I will finish my role in Ve Dat Thang Long (Return to Thang Long). Then I will invest my time in music. My fourth album named Nang La (Strange Sunlight) will be released soon. The prize marks a new era in my life. I hope that I'll have the opportunity to act in other films.
I don't want to divide myself into two parts but will gather my strength in terms of one goal. I won't record an album and take part in a film at the same time. The previous album wasn't successful because I was too focused on acting. I have to learn from that mistake. — VNS