HCM CITY (VNS)— Saigon Media, the HCM City-based private entertainment company, is working with an acclaimed independent filmmaker to produce a film based on a tragic story about a rural girl and a young scientist.

The film, Nuoc Nhu Nuoc Mat (Water in Tears), is adapted from a well-known short story of the same name by author Nguyen Ngoc Tu.

The key figure behind the film is Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh, an overseas Vietnamese director who completed his cinematography studies at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1998.

The producer said they believed Minh's involvement would guarantee artistic and financial success.

After reading the screenplay, Minh decided to return to HCM City and prepare for the challenges of making his third film in his homeland.

He spent two months working with his film staff on casting the roles.

The work portrays a young rural woman, Sao, who faces challenges in supporting her husband and family. One day, she meets a young geneticist with a secret, Giang, who changes her life.

In an interview with local media prior to releasing his second film, Khi Yeu Dung Quay Dau Lai (Love Means Never Say Sorry), Minh said that he would not have signed the contract with the producers if he had not been interested in the screenplay for Water in Tears.

In 2004, Minh and his foreign staff made waves in the local film industry with their film, Mua Len Trau (Buffalo Boy), or shot in Dong Thap Province.

The film features haunting folk songs and the Delta's singular beauty, with picturesque scenes of rivers, forests, boats and buffaloes.

Buffalo Boy later won top prizes at international festivals in France and the US, including the Best Foreign Language Film at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in California in 2006.

Filming of Water in Tears should begin this month and end later this year,

with release during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday next year.

"We hope our film will surprise Minh's fans," said a representative from Saigon Media. — VNS