Director Phan Dang Di's first movie, Bi, Dung So! (Bi, Don't Be Afraid),
has won Best First Feature at the 21st Stockholm International Film
Festival.
His senior cameraman, Pham Quang Minh, won
the award for best cinematography. Bi, Dung So! also won best
screenplay during the Cannes film festival's critics week, as well
as the new talent award at the Asia-Hong Kong Film Festival.
The film is scheduled to open at box offices in Vietnam next
month. It will be broadcast on TV network Arte Channel in France and
Germany .
The film narrates the story of a young
boy called Bi who lives with his mother, father and aunt in a house in
Hanoi . When Bi's grandfather, who has been absent for many years,
suddenly reappears, the family are once again reunited. However, his
return turns out to be far from auspicious. Bi's father begins to stay
out late, to the point where he stops coming home at all in what appears
to be a way of coming to turns with his own loneliness when his own
father was absent. Meanwhile, Bi's aunt falls in love with a young man
whom she meets on a bus, his father falls in love with a masseuse and
his mother behaves as if nothing has changed.
The
feature is much more than just a family drama. Director Di represents
the lost because he has no way to express complex emotions. The
photography borders on poetry and the interesting camera angles and the
fascinating film locations, combined with realistic dialogue, turn this
film into something extraordinary. Ordinary people become remarkable.
The life of the child is nothing short of enchanting, and viewers become
intimate witnesses of a family struggling to escape loneliness.
Holly Hunter, who starred in The Piano, headed the jury panel, said
she was amazed by power of the scenes and thought the film compelling.
Meanwhile, cameraman Minh's photography was described
as poetic and dignified in its simplicity and subtle technical
perfection.
The 12-day Stockholm Festival, which
ended on Nov. 28, was launched in 1990. It has become one of the leading
film events in Europe . The festival takes place every November and
typically features about 180 films from more than 50 countries./.
