Nurture: Huy Khanh (right) and Dinh Y Nhung co-star in the Lay Chong Nguoi Ta (In The Name of Love) which will premiere at the 37th Toronto Film Festival. — File Photo

HA NOI — Director Luu Huynh's latest production Lay Chong Nguoi Ta (In the Name of Love) will be premiered at the 37th Toronto Film Festival Contemporary World Cinema from September 6 to 16.

In the Name of Love has a chance to grab the People's Choice Award for the film with the highest audience ratings.

Last year, the Vietnamese movie Lost in Paradise was screened in the Discovery category that was not qualified for the award, according to a representative from BHD, a film distributor.

In the Name of Love describes a love triangle that proceeds with the inexorable logic of a Greek tragedy. A dedicated wife in a small Vietnamese fishing village secretly turns to another man when her husband is unable to give her the child they both crave. But the surrogate father's crazed jealousy has fateful consequences.

Most scenes were shot in March in the floating village of La Nga in the southern province of Dong Nai starring actors Thai Hoa, Dinh Y Nhung and Huy Khanh for the first time.

The role of fisherman's wife was Nhung's first main screen role. She said the director simply asked her: "Can you do it?" when she queried the sexy scenes in the movie.

Before shooting, Nhung spent one week living in the floating village as a native woman. "I was pressured about the complicated life of the character. She loved her husband, but accepted having a baby with another."

Both Khanh and Hoa found the roles quite different from their previous movies. Khanh escaped being cast as a "hot boy" or rich man to learn about the life of a fisherman. Hoa quit transsexual roles in comedy movies to become a happy destroyer in the movie.

In the Name of Love script was edited by director Huynh who spent three years preparing for the movie.

Born in HCM City, Huynh has been living abroad for 16 years. He studied commercial art at the University of Minnesota, determined to pursue film. He returned in 1990 making a debut with the film Em Va Michael Jackson (Michael Jackson&I).

His 2007 film Ao Lua Ha Dong (The White Silk Dress) was highly acclaimed. It won the Audience Award at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea, the Kodak Vision award at the Fukuoka Asian Film Festival in Japan, and the highly coveted Best Foreign Film award voted by audiences at the Golden Rooster Awards in China.

The White Silk Dress has also been officially selected to represent Viet Nam at the 80th Academy Awards in the best foreign-language film category.

His latest film, Huyen Thoai Bat Tu (The Legend Is Alive), released in 2009 to wide acclaim, won a total of six Golden Kite Awards from the Viet Nam Cinematography Association, including a tie for best film.

Director Huynh will lead a movie crew to Toronto early next month. The movie will be released nationally on September 21. — VNS