Setting tongues wagging: A scene from the Vietnamese documentary Chuyen Lang Then which will open the fourth European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival on Friday.

HA NOI — The fourth European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival will take place in Ha Noi and Da Nang starting on Friday, with screenings to continue until June 24. This will mark the first time that Da Nang has co-hosted the festival.

Nightly during the festival, audiences will be treated to one European and one Vietnamese documentary on a related theme. Films have been submitted from Austria, Germany, Denmark, France, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the Wallonia-Brussels region of Belgium.

Screenings will take place in Ha Noi from June 8-17 and in Da Nang from June 15-24.

"The festival is an opportunity for a dialogue and exchange of professional experience between documentary filmmakers in Viet Nam and abroad," said Pham Thi Tuyet, director of the National Studio for Documentary and Scientific film, one of the organisers of the event. "At the same time, it is a chance for film fans to enjoy well-made and exciting documentary films on a wide variety of topics."

The festival will open on Friday with the Austrian film Vinyl at 7pm, followed by the Vietnamese film Chuyen Lang Then (The Story of Then Village).

Vinyl uncovers the world of experimental and electronic music in Vienna and includes performances by and interviews with pioneers of the 90's techno scene, leading experimental composers, and legends of the Vienna underground, such as Drahdiwaberl and Supermax.

The Story of Then Village is about a group of music enthusiasts in a farming village in Bac Giang Province. They are self-taught violinists who play music free of charge for war invalids and the elderly. In order to keep on playing their music, they have had to overcome financial difficulties, but their music has brought joy to many people.

Others films presented during the festival will include Elgar: The Man Behind the Mask (UK), In Your Eyes (France), Early Learning (Poland), Maria and I (Spain), Mechanical Love (Denmark), Interior Landscapes (Switzerland), and Children Without Shadows (Wallonie-Bruxelles), as well as Prof Dao Duy Anh, the Doctor-Sorcerer and The Call from the Herd of Primates (Viet Nam).

A day dedicated to young filmmakers will be held next Monday in Ha Noi and on June 21 in Da Nang, devoted to films made by young Vietnamese documentary filmmakers.

The festival attracted over 5,000 people in Ha Noi and HCM City last year. According to organisers, the worldwide success of documentary films in recent years shows that audiences have truly embraced a "cinema of reality".

Films at this year's fest will be shown free at 7pm at the Viet Nam National Documentary and Scientific Film Studio, 46 Hoang Hoa Tham Street in Ha Noi, and at the Viet Nam Film Import-Export and Distribution Co, 79 Quang Trung Street, in Da Nang. Films will be shown in their original languages with Vietnamese subtitles. — VNS