HA NOI (VNS)— A poignant documentary titled Ky Uc Viet Nam (Memoirs of Viet Nam), featuring Viet Nam in the years 1964-81 by Japanese film makers will be broadcast tonight.

The colour film owned by the Japanese news agency, Nihon Denpa News (NDN), recounts vivid stories of the Vietnamese in the north, from the period they assisted liberation forces in the south, until peace time.

The documentary depicts a range of topics from politics to culture and peoples daily lives.

After four years of negotiations, Viet Nam Television (VTV) has successfully bought the property rights to 1,500 films, totalling 6,000 minutes in length, which are edited into episodes focusing on separate topics.

"I had heard about a Japanese film company operating during the war in Viet Nam for a long time. Then during a field trip to Japan, I tried to find out more about it and was introduced to NDN," said VTV reporter Xuan Tung, who plays a leading role in tracking down the archive and bringing it to Viet Nam.

"When I arrived at NDN's headquarters, I was surprised to see lots of images of Viet Nam hanging on the walls along the corridors and NDN also revealed that they also have a video archive filmed in Viet Nam from 1964 to 1981," added Tung.

"After watching it, I immediately thought that this was a precious spiritual asset for Vietnamese people and it should be shown in Viet Nam.

"The film archive was recovered in perfect condition, the best I have ever seen, so did the noted directors Thanh Van and Huu Tuan did well. This is why VTV has ensured the film is kept in an suitable environment, so that it doesn't degrade."

"I used to come across the NDN film crew when I was learning how to shoot film in 1968," recalled director Nguyen Huu Tuan.

"I was 20 years old at that time. Now, 40 years later, it' very interesting to watch what they shot, which is of invaluable historical significance.

"More importantly, we began to realise that our Japanese colleagues made the film with a high degree of respect for Viet Nam."

Ky Uc Viet Nam is just one of the extensive video archives that NDN has had in its possession for over 40 years. First established in 1960, the Japanese TV news agency has overseas bureaus all over Asia.

Ky Uc Viet Nam will televised at 9.50pm on VTV1 channel from Monday to Thursday, and at 11.50am on VTV3 from Tuesday to Friday. — VNS