Footage of the village

(Baonghean) - Bringing films to people in the highlands or coastal areas, to the most remote places is a normal job of officers and soldiers of the Provincial Military Command's Film Projection Team. Traveling with them on a trip to see, to understand more and share the joy of people in remote areas when they hear "Hello! Hello! The Provincial Military Command's Mobile Film Projection Team announces...".

Major Dang Hong Quang (Captain of the Provincial Military Command's Film Projection Team) is preparing to screen a film for people in Chau Thai (Quy Hop).Photo: Le Thang

Major Dang Hong Quang - Captain of the Provincial Military Command's Film Projection Team still remembers clearly the memories of each trip to the people. Among them, the most memorable was the trip to Dua village (Luong Minh commune, Tuong Duong). When the team crossed mountains, crossed rapids, and used a buffalo cart to transport them to the village and set up the backdrop, the people rushed out to watch. The people confided that, since childhood, they had never seen "a TV as big as that. This is the biggest TV they have ever seen". The people were very excited, some people seemed to be more knowledgeable, saying: "That is a TV... wide screen, there are many in the lowlands!".

That evening, the village of Dua was like a festival. Children ran back and forth to watch the soldiers make the big machine. The adults prepared to slaughter young pigs to treat them. Or like the movie screening in Song Con village, it was drizzling, and during the screening, one of the two projector bulbs exploded. The villagers still sat in the rain, cutting leaves from the forest to cover their heads, waiting for the soldiers to fix the bulb so the screening could continue. By the end of the program, it was almost midnight.

There were villages that arrived but there was no projection yard, so they had to put the projector on the stilt house and hang the screen outside... the fence 5 meters away. However, people still came to watch in large numbers. That was the warm and enthusiastic feelings of the people to ease the hard steps of the soldiers doing the projection work. Therefore, each propaganda film or feature film brought to the remote village, despite many hardships and difficulties, but with the enthusiastic reception of the people, it warmed the hearts of the officers and soldiers in the projection team.

Working in mountainous, remote and isolated areas is very difficult. Locations such as Dam Tran (Ky Son), Xoong Con village, Ve village (Tuong Duong), Chau Thai (Quy Hop)... and many other remote places have left their footprints. Major Dang Hong Quang added: "In one year, we carried out the Command's plan with many trips to remote and isolated areas, where people really need films to learn more about the vast life outside the villages and mountains. In addition to the task of serving the people, we combine propaganda and mobilization work. Before the screening, the team often organizes leaflet distribution and brings more machines to make propaganda programs such as HIV and drug prevention".

On November 24, 2011, Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, issued Decision No. 2605/QD-TM on reorganizing the system of film projection teams in the army. Accordingly, the system of film projection teams in the entire army will be reorganized with 20 teams from 20 provinces and cities across the country, including Nghe An. Therefore, their responsibility is even heavier. The footsteps of the officers and soldiers of the provincial Military Command's film projection team are still heading towards the people day and night. And every night, in a remote village somewhere in the middle of the vast Nghe An region, we can see the electric lights and the familiar loudspeaker: "Hello! Hello! We would like to announce that tonight, the mobile film projection team of officers and soldiers of the provincial Military Command invites you to the village chief's yard to watch a movie...".

Hai Tran