Date: Tuesday 15 January 2019 - 19:30 to Friday 18 January 2019 - 19:30
Venue: Screen 2, National Cinema Centre, 87 Lang Ha, Hanoi
Showcasing the breadth of technological and filmmaking possibilities around archival film materials, we are delighted to present four public screenings as part of the series of events ‘Film as a Cultural Heritage’. Bookended by two Vietnamese cinema classics showing in rarely seen 2K-resolution image quality (We’ll Be Seeing Us Again, 1974, director – Tran Vu; and The Season of Guavas, 2000, director – Dang Nhat Minh), the programme also features a documentary on life in Scotland created entirely from archival footage (From Scotland with Love, 2014, director – Virginia Heath), as well as an Indian epic from the 1920s fully restored by the British Film Institute (Shiraz: A Romance of India, 1928, director – Franz Osten).
15 January 2019 – 19.30
Den hen lai len (We’ll Be Seeing Us Again)
1974, Dir – Tran Vu, 103 minutes
In Vietnamese, with subtitles in English
Melodrama set in Vietnam during the 1940s. Two young singers who fall in love have their relationship disrupted by family opposition and by revolutionary activities against the French and later against the Japanese occupation during World War II.
16 January 2019 – 19.30
From Scotland with Love
2014, Dir – Virginia Heath, 75 minutes
In English, with subtitles in Vietnamese
Made entirely of Scottish archival film materials, 'From Scotland With Love' is a 75-minute film by award-winning Director Virginia Heath with a transcendent score by Scottish musician and composer King Creosote. A journey into our collective past, the film explores universal themes of love, loss, resistance, migration, work and play. Ordinary people, some long since dead, their names and identities largely forgotten, appear shimmering from the depth of the vaults to take a starring role. Brilliantly edited together, these silent individuals become composite characters, who emerge to tell us their stories, given voice by King Creosote's poetic music and lyrics.
17 January 2019 – 19.30
Shiraz: A Romance of India
1928, Dir – Franz Osten, 105 minutes. Restored by the British Film Institute
In English, with subtitles in Vietnamese
Based on the romance between 17th-century Mughal ruler Shah Jahan and his queen, this epic silent film is the ravishing, romantic tale behind the creation of one of the world’s most iconic structures: the Taj Mahal.
Shot entirely on location in India, it features lavish costumes and gorgeous settings – all the more impressive in this restoration by the BFI National Archive which features a specially commissioned score by the Grammy Award-winning Anoushka Shankar.
Produced by and starring Indian film legend Himansu Rai, the film is performed by an all-Indian cast, featuring Rai as humble potter Shiraz, who follows his childhood sweetheart Selima (Enakshi Rama Rau) when she’s sold by slave traders to the future emperor (Charu Roy).
18 January 2019 – 19.30
Mua oi (The Season of Guavas)
2000, Dir – Dang Nhat Minh, 100 minutes
In Vietnamese, with subtitles in English
The Guava House (2000) traces the changing values of society in Vietnam through the eyes of a gentle and kindhearted man, Hoa (Bui Bai Binh). After a childhood accident left him mentally impaired, his sister (Lan Huong) has looked after him for 30 years. Living as much in his beautiful memories as in the present, Hoa is drawn to return to his father’s house, now occupied by a businessman’s young daughter. They build a quiet friendship together, but are challenged by the misunderstandings of others.
