Canada-based Vietnamese director Ngo Quoc Cuong has just returned to Viet Nam to make his first series of short films on his native land. The series of six short films, which is entitled Ngoc Vien Dong (Oriental Pearls), features Vietnamese women. It will be released this Christmas.
He was born and grew up in Viet Nam and studied at the HCM City Theatre and Cinema College before taking a second degree in Film Production at York University in Toronto, Canada.
Cuong directed two award-winning short comedies in 2003 and 2004 while studying writing and linguistics at the International Royal Melbourne Institute of Technologies University.
His most recent film The Golden Pin (09) won the Colin Campbell jury award for Best Canadian Short at the Toronto Inside Out Film & Video Festival in May 2009.
Cuong talks about his career.
Why did you choose women as the main topic of your first series of short films on Viet Nam?
We, the Vietnamese, care very much about our family, where the father is like the body and mother is like the heart and soul. That's why I wanted to make a film on the family's roots, with Vietnamese women as the main characters.
Another reason is that I can only afford to make low-budget films on the country, its people, culture, spiritual values…
Ngoc Vien Dong introduces the audience to Vietnamese women's beauty and lifestyle. Hopefully, foreigners will begin to understand that Viet Nam is not just about war.
What challenges have you encountered making the film?
To be honest, women are hard to understand. Vietnamese women living overseas are even more difficult to understand as their identities are complicated.
Another challenge is the combination of cinema and literature. Though I like US-based Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc's writing, I had to call her many times from Canada to clarify what she was trying to say.
Vietnamese women are very mysterious. I want the characters not to talk too much but to express their feelings through their actions.
Through gentle metaphor, I wanted them to reveal their deepest feelings, their psychology, even their sexual desires.
In the trailer, your six main characters are very similar in their behaviour – they seem far away and often look sorrowful while looking in the mirror. Was that your intention?
Because women are difficult to understand, I could only show small details, such as moments when they look mournful.
Mentioning mirrors, I think when someone gazes into a mirror for a long time they reveal something about themselves. When people look into themselves in a mirror they can communicate with themselves. They see the past, present and future.
The six starring roles are played by Nhu Quynh, Truong Ngoc Aùnh, Ngo Thanh Van, Hong Anh, Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc, and Phuong Quynh, who plays a ten-year-old girl?
The series stretches from the northern mountainous region of Sa Pa to the western region of the south. It's similar to the journey the Vietnamese people made in olden times from the north to the south.
Through each character's mood, viewers will see features of Vietnamese culture in the different regions. From a philosophical point of view, Tho [played by Phuong Quynh] represents new life. As a whole, the six characters represent six stages, the six tones of Vietnamese women's life.
Could you tell us something about yourself and your future plans?
I love the art of film-making. I have never thought of myself as a Viet kieu (overseas Vietnamese). My dad is Hanoian, while my mother is from Hue. I was born in HCM City.
Such a multi-cultural family foundation has nurtured my soul and allowed me to accurately portray Vietnamese life.
Besides, I have lived in many countries. I can see the Vietnamese from many angles.
After this first series, I will make a feature film based on the novel Mot The Gioi Khong Co Dan Ba (A World Without Women) by writer Bui Anh Tan next year. The books is about gay men. — VNS