Screening: Documentaries
October 9 - 7:00 P.M.
Room 116, William Harkness Hall,
100 Wall Street (corner of College and Wall Streets)
Yale University, New Haven, CT
FILM SCREENING
"Facing to the Ocean: selected documentaries from Vietnam
Discussion with Directors/Presenters, following screenings
Hosted by the Vietnamese Students Association (ViSA)
Sponsored by the Council on Southeast Asia Studies
Film tour organized by IVCE (Institute for Vietnamese Culture and Education)
Synopses below (from IVCE):
1. Little stories in the big sea is a series of encounters of people who are on the way to visit their loved ones living and defending the Spratly islands (Truong Sa) of Vietnam. On a ship, people get acquainted and tell each other stories about their husbands, their sons and their fathers on Spratly Island (Truong Sa Lon), Central London Reef (East Truong Sa), Pearson Reef (Phan Vinh). There are stories of two veterans of the U.S. war era who live in Thanh Hóa Province. This is their first time visiting the graves of their sons - one killed 3 years ago, and one, 7 years ago when they were in their 20's. Each story is his or her own, like colors in a warm ocean mosaic.
30 minutes, English subtitled.
Director: Phan Huyen Thu.
2. Vietnamese sea trade in the 17-18th Centuries - Vietnam has over 2,240 miles of sea shores and over 3,000 islands. It is located in the hub of major sea trade routes of the world, the ocean and the islands have not only been the Vietnamese living space, but they are the cross roads of economic and cultural exchanges between countries in the region and in the world. The Vietnamese have mastered the sea and islands and have joined in the sea trade networks of the world - which become the trade- marks of “the silk route”, “the ceramic route”, “the spice route” on the Eastern Sea and the west side of the Pacific Ocean.
The presentation leads the journey out into the sea by the Vietnamese from the First Century AD and their path to the world sea trade, esp. in the Age of the Great Commerce in the 17th and 18th Centuries when the most famous Vietnamese trade ports like Phố Hiến, Cửa Lò, Cửa Việt, Thanh Hà - Bao Vinh, Hội An, Nước Mặn,... stretching from north to south central Vietnam, were extremely busy with the traffic of trade ships from China, Japan, Ryukyu, Thailand, Holland, Portugal, and Spain, to name a few. They came to trade, while the Vietnamese ships also left out for other Asian countries' trade ports.
15 minutes.
Presenter: Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son.
3. Into the Ocean is a mélange of memories: the past, the present, and the future of two brothers - two imaginary actors in a journey finding each other, and through which discovering the homeland and selves. It is a story not for retelling, but it is unhinged in mess of fragments mixing disorderly of reality and dreams. In this journey, the fragments raise a universal question about the meaning of parting and reuniting, the two states of being human - and of course, it is within the realm of the arts.
Into the Ocean is a letter of pictures in motion which can be perceived individually or in self-realization. In this realm, freedom is boundless.
20 minutes.
Director: Le Ngoc Thanh & Le Duc Hai
4. General Giáp - A wonderful documentary made by Talk Vietnam (VTV4), on the photography of Catherine Karnow and her long time friendship with the late General Giap and his family, for the 60th Anniversary of Dien Bien Phu. Catherine Karnow was daughter of American historian and journalist, Stanley Karnow, who was known for his writings on the war in Vietnam and interview on Giap for the New York Times in 1990.
General Giap master-minded this historic battle, which gave Vietnam its independence from the French, after 60 plus years of colonial rule.
In 1994, the 40th anniversary of the victory of Dien Bien Phu, Catherine was invited by General Vo Nguyen Giap to visit Dien Bien Phu. From this special trip, she had taken many precious photos of General Giap and became close with the family of the general. Most photos of historical value of the Great General (still seen in the press today) were taken by photographer, Catherine Karnow, unbeknownst to the public.
With Talk Vietnam, Catherine shares her memories about her photographic processes with the late General, as well as her affection for the country and people of Vietnam. Talk Vietnam's journalist had an emotional journey, as she follows photographer, Catherine Karnow, and the family of General Vo Nguyen Giap, through the home of General Giap and the old battlefields of Dien Bien Phu.
45 minutes
Talk Vietnam host: Tran Thuy Duong, Production of VTV4, Vietnam Television
Phan Huyen Thu was born in 1972. She graduated in Western Literature at the Ha Noi University of Social Sciences and Humanities Hanoi in 1993. She became an arts critic for a few years, and was officially a screen play and editor of the Vietnam National Science and Documentary Film Studio. She participated in a training course in documentary film directing at Ateliers Varan (France) in 2006. She has now won 15 prizes in many film festivals, such as the Golden Lotus, and annual film festivals of the Vietnam Cinema Association such as the Golden Kite and Silver Kite. Besides being an independent documentary film director, Phan Huyền Thư is also a well-known pioneer in new poetry movement after 1975. She authored two impressive and controversial poetry collections, Nằm nghiêng [Yearner Position] in 2002, "Rỗng ngực" [Empty Chest] in 2007, and a new to-be-published poetry book in 2014 entitled Sẹo Độc Lập [Independence Scars].
Phan Huyen Thu is currently a member of Poetry Commission of the Hanoi Writers Association, a member of Young Writers Committee of the Vietnam Writers Association. Her work has been translated into many languages and archived in several famous international universities.
Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son – currently serves as Vice-Director of Danang Institute for Socio Economic Development (DISED). He served as Vice - Director of Hue Museum of Royal Fine Arts for 6 years (1995 - 2000), then as Director of this Museum for 7 years (2001 - 2007). He also served as Dean of Faculty of Vietnamese Studies at Phan Chau Trinh University (2008), before appointed Vice-Director of DISED.
He received B.A and Ph.D in history in 1989 and 2002, respectively. He has also had teaching experience in local universities in the following subjects: History of Vietnam under Nguyen Dynasty (1802 - 1945), Ceramics of East Asia during 15th - 19th century, Culture of Vietnam and Hue region.
Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son was awarded scholarships to study on museology, archaeology, history of art and management of cultural heritage in Japan, Korea and Germany. Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son also is author of several research books, including Blue and White porcelain of Hue - Some Academic Exchanges, Sino-Vietnamese Porcelain in the Nguyen Period, Games and Pastimes of Hue People, Documents on Vietnam’s Sovereignty over Paracels, Ship and Shipbuilding in Vietnam during Nguyen Dynasty.
Tran Thuy Duong – is the current host and producer of Vietnam’s first and only internationally broadcast English-language talk show – Talk Vietnam, under public broadcaster, Vietnam Television International (VTV4). The 45-minute bi-weekly program is an insight into the historically fascinating and culturally rich Southeast Asian nation, through the experiences and meaningful activities of expats, overseas Vietnamese, international friends as well as those visiting the country for the very first time.
Since first hosting the show in 2009, she has interviewed influential and renowned figures, including Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, American historian Larry Berman, Hollywood acclaimed Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce, American Idol David Cook, and National Geographic photographer Catherine Karnow.
Tran Thuy Duong is also a full time reporter at VTV4. Some of her best-known works and appearances have been on the subjects of resolving post-war consequences, reconciliation, ASEAN affairs, environmental issues as well as features of cultural preservation and development. In addition to anchoring the English news bulletin, VTV News, she has also hosted in-depth features on Vietnam’s culinary delights in Fine Cuisine.
A proud Hanoian, she has a double major Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies and French from Mount Holyoke College (Massachusetts, USA) and a Master’s Degree in International Broadcast Journalism from the University of Westminster (London, UK).
Le Duc Hai & Le Ngoc Thanh – Born in 1975 in Quang Binh, Vietnam, the twin brothers Le Duc Hai & Le Ngoc Thanh graduated from the College of Fine Arts in Hue on 2000. After being quite active in the local art scene, they opened the New Space gallery in Hue in 2000. The New Space gallery is not only a gallery but also it is their studio where you can find themselves in the arts and you can meet artists from Vietnam and overseas. The New Space has organized exhibitions for Vietnamese and foreign artists as well.
Because of their energy, their talent, their happiness and their seriousness they are now well-known all over Vietnam. Not only their own country but many others as well; Holland, Thailand, France, Germany, Japan, United Emirates, England, Hawaii, South Africa... Like many contemporary artists they not only work with one specific medium. Of course they are masters in lacquer painting but their own artistic research let them work with oil, acrylic, performance, installation, video and photography.
Catherine Karnow – Born and raised in Hong Kong, the daughter of an American journalist, San Francisco-based, National Geographic photographer, Catherine Karnow, seems destined to have travel and photojournalism at the center of her life. She graduated Brown University with honors degrees in Comparative Literature and Semiotics. After a brief career as a filmmaker – her film Brooklyn Bridge premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 1984 – she turned her attention to photography full time in 1986.
Catherine has covered Australian Aborigines; Bombay film stars; victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam; Russian “Old Believers” in Alaska; Greenwich, Connecticut high society; and an Albanian farm family. In 1994, she was the only non-Vietnamese photo-journalist to accompany General Giap on his historic first return to the forest encampment in the northern Vietnam highlands from which he plotted the battle of Dien Bien Phu. She also gained unprecedented access to Prince Charles for her 2006 National Geographic feature, “Not Your Typical Radical.”
Her work appears in National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian, French & German GEO and other international publications. She has also participated in several Day in the Life series, Passage to Vietnam, and Women in the Material World. Catherine Karnow is known for her vibrant, emotional and sensitive style of photographing people.
Catherine's passion for photography carries into her love for teaching. She teaches the National Geographic Weekend Workshops in San Francisco and at Miraval Resort in Tucson, as well as her own Italy Photo Workshop in Umbria this May.