VietNamNet Bridge – For the sixth time, the European Union National Institutes for Culture, the network of the European cultural institutes and embassies in Hanoi, and the National Film Studio for Documentary and Science Film Vietnam, will present European and South East Asian films in Hanoi from June 4 to 12 and in HCMC from June 21 to 29.

A scene in the documentary movie Dreams of a Life.

Each film from Vietnam will be followed by a film from Denmark, Germany, France, the UK, Austria, Poland, Sweden or Spain. In the dialogue varied in both the cinematic language and the topics, there will be a same passion of exploring the world through images for movie goers.

As part of the documentary film festival, the Goethe Institute will hold two workshops.  One workshop will gather filmmakers from several South East Asian countries with Finnish director Iikka Vehkalahti and some of those filmmakers will also present their films during the festival. The event, which will take place at Hanoi Goethe Institute from June 3 to 5, is part of the global documentary film project Steps to Dream aimed at producing documentary films with local stories from Asia, working with established filmmakers and emerging talents from the region, providing training and mentorship throughout the course of production and building a bridge between independent filmmakers and TV broadcasters.

The workshop is for filmmakers to explore following questions with editor Iikka Vehkalahti such as how to develop a story for an international audience, how to develop an important topic or issue into a film, with a strong story ( not necessarily narrative), tension and flow, how to take the demands of the various platforms ( mobile, net, TV, festivals, cinemas) into consideration when making a documentary, how to bridge the gap between independent filmmakers and TV production and how to build co-operation.

The second workshop for young Vietnamese filmmakers from Hanoi takes place at the Hanoi DOCLAB from June 3 to 6 under the direction of German movie editor Catrin Vogt who will give a talk on ‘Dramaturgical Editing of Documentary Films’ for all interested professionals. The workshop teaches editing skills by looking at concrete projects of the participants and discussing in the group under the guidance of the tutor.

Films will be screened at the National Studio for Documentary and Scientific Film at 465 Hoang Hoa Tham in Hanoi and at Hoa Sen University at 8 Nguyen Van Trang in HCMC’s District 1.

SGT/VNN