17-year-old dream and cinematic aspiration
(Baonghean.vn) - In 2011, Vietnamese cinema was once again "introduced" to world cinema when the feature film "Bi, don't be afraid" won major awards at international film festivals in 2010 such as: SACD ACID/CCAS Award of International Critics Week - Cannes Film Festival, Special Mention Award at Vancouver International Film Festival and London Film Festival, New Talent Award at Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.... The scriptwriter and director of this film is director Phan Dang Di, a son of Nghe An... On the occasion of the New Year, Nghe An Newspaper reporter had an interview with him to hear him share about his work, life and new plans.
PV: Director Phan Dang Di, over the past year, the image of the boy Bi with dozens of international awards has stirred up the domestic film industry. Bi in the film is an innocent, carefree boy with a clear view of life. And readers at home are curious to know what Phan Dang Di's childhood was like? Do he have many memories of Nghe An?
Director Phan Dang Di (PDD):I spent my early childhood years in Nghi Xuan - then part of Nghe Tinh province, before moving to Vinh in 1984 with my family. My memories of this period are very gentle. My family lived in a thatched dormitory for teachers, next to the school where my mother taught were fields of peanuts, sesame, and watermelons... At that time, I was about 5 years old, like Bi, I was attracted to plants and was very excited when one day I found a bush of wild melon (a type of melon smaller than watermelon used for pickling). I dug a small hole to hide the melon I had just found, but I was always worried because if the melon grew bigger, how could it still fit in the tiny hole... In winter, migratory birds flew back to perch on the tree branches behind the house and swooped down to the fields, adults started to set traps, children made fake nests to lure starlings to lay eggs there and waited anxiously, such things are hard to forget.
Director Phan Dang Di at the Asian Film Festival
PV: Why did you choose cinema as your main career and become an independent filmmaker?
Director PDD:Ever since I was a child, I have always fantasized about the world in the books I read more than the real world and would allow myself to go on imaginary journeys around the world.
Then, because of my imagination, I started writing stories and was sure that I would become a writer. Until the summer vacation when I was 17 (1993), I happened to watch a TV program introducing the Cannes Film Festival. That year, Tran Anh Hung - a French director of Vietnamese origin won the Camera D'or award for best debut film. Tran Khai Ca (China) with "Farewell My Concubine" and Jane Campion (New Zealand) with "The Piano" won the Palme d'Or, the actress Holly Hunter in this film also won the award for Best Actress. Immediately, these images fascinated me, I decided to become a filmmaker without thinking about the difficulties I would encounter...
It was a spontaneous choice at the age of 17 and it took me exactly 17 years (2010) to go to Cannes with my first film and win an award there. In November of the same year, I met Holly Hunter again in the role of President of the International Film Festival Jury.
As for choosing to become an independent filmmaker, it is simply because it suits my own way of working and my own concept of cinema, a rather private cinema, which requires the director to be attached to the film from its infancy, to be patient and wait for it to grow inside him, to be strong enough to give birth to it, and to have enough intelligence and inner strength to keep it as complete as he wants. It is a very harsh birthing process that the director must always have full control over.
PV: Usually in your works like "Sen", "Choi Voi", "Bi, Dung So", people feel the profound quality of the director. As a young filmmaker, choosing a rather difficult topic, going against the taste of today's audience, aren't you afraid of being considered "crazy"?
Director PDD:I am over 30, it is hard to call myself young anymore, at least enough to know what I am choosing. For creativity, I still have to have a "don't be afraid" attitude, then I can do it. This definitely requires a certain amount of daring and courage, or in other words, "crazy".
PV: In your opinion, what is the secret to conquering international film festivals?
Director PDD:There is no secret other than sincerity, imagination and love. When making films, I always start from love for people, even though people have many scandals and mistakes, love for the place where I live even though that place is sometimes chaotic and uncivilized... Perhaps that is why when introducing the film abroad, no one has told me that the film makes them think badly of Vietnam.
That is also the reason why, up to now, Bi, Don't Be Afraid has been shown at about 60 film festivals and film events in 50 countries, and next March, the film will be commercially released in about 100 cinemas in France. However, this is just an isolated phenomenon, the truth is that Vietnamese films
PV: What is the meaning of family, parents and hometown in your life?
Director PDD:A meaning that grows over time, and probably has a classical tendency like most people.
PV: You often use real life images and people as inspiration for the films you have written and directed, such as "Bi, don't be afraid" set in Hanoi, "Cha, con va..." set in Ho Chi Minh City. Have you ever had the idea of writing a film set in Nghe An, the homeland where you were born and is also rich in cultural identity?
Director PDD:Currently, I am focusing on a new project that is scheduled to start filming in the second half of 2012, so I don't have any other thoughts in mind, but maybe at some point, I will film a movie in Nghe An. I often dream about the old forests in the Western part of Nghe An, where the majesty of the steep cliffs and the wild, mysterious space under the canopy of the Pu Mat primeval forest sometimes creep into my imagination...
PV: One last question. Even though your family has now moved to Hanoi, do you still often return to your hometown Nghe An and during Tet, does your family still maintain the cultural practices that Nghe people often do during each "Tet coming Spring coming" occasion?
Director PDD:Every year we go back to our hometown to visit our grandparents and ancestors' graves, then burn incense at the family temple before returning to Hanoi to celebrate Tet.
For me, the taste of Nghe that I remember most during Tet is the very big and very salty pot of catfish stewed with galangal that my mother always prepared from the Kitchen Gods' Day and ate until the full moon of the first lunar month.
PV: Thank you, I wish you and your family a warm and happy spring!
My Ha (Implementation)
