In the film, Lady M., a blue-collar retiree in Vietnam, returns home to Berlin where she learns that her German husband has died. The legacy that her husband has left is an urn with his ashes and Cu li.

Coming back to Vietnam, Lady M. finds that her pregnant niece Van is rushing into marriage, causing her to fear that she will make the same life mistakes that she did.

Lady M. then proceeds to embark upon a journey retracing her memories, evoking plenty of Vietnam’s storied past.

“Cu li never cries” is among 31 films from 17 countries which will be competing in the Panorama category at Berlinale.

It will mark the fourth time that the Vietnamese cinema industry has competed at this prestigious festival. In addition, it is also the third film directed by Pham Ngoc Lan to vie for the Berlin Film Festival following his films “Một Khu Đất Tốt” (Blessed Land) in 2019 and “Một thành phố khác” (Another City) in 2016.

Director Pham Ngoc Lan, 38, graduated from the Hanoi University of Architecture, but later followed his passion to make independent films.

His first film, “The Story of Ones” released in 2011, was screened at numerous film festivals and art museums, such as the New Cinema and Contemporary Art - Rencontres Internationales in France, as well as the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Japan.

Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, Berlinale has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europe's "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival in Italy and the Cannes Film Festival in France. It is also one of the "Big Five", the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The festival regularly draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.

Source: VOV