VIETNAM 50!

30. APRIL - 07. MAI

AUSSTELLUNG TALK & FILMS

BIG OPENINIG 

WED 30.04. with EXHIBITION OPENING 18:30 + 19:30 The Little Girl of Hanoi & moreFILMS

AUSSTELLUNGSERÖFFNUNG 

Mi, 30.04. 18:30

This film program reflects on the 50th anniversary of the end of the American-Vietnam War.

The works presented weave together the diverse and complex histories of Vietnam and its diaspora, echoing across borders and generations.

Spanning over five decades of Vietnamese cinema, from revolutionary tales of the pasts to contemporary works of postwar realities and the diaspora, each film bears witness to the ever-evolving narrative of Vietnam's history — a history marked by colonial struggles and the quest for self-determination.

While not trying to be comprehensive, the film selection seeks for works that highlight bottom-up narratives, considering the various Vietnamese and Viet-diasporic groups and communities migrating to Berlin (Germany) and co-existing since the 20th century. 

The program aims to be polyphonic, trauma-sensitive, healing and transformative. The film selection hopes to reflect the multitude of voices that shape the Vietnamese experience - on the war, the reunification, their ongoing effects and legacies.

It is an invitation to witness the complexity of a nation that has endured, and continues to endure, the legacies of conflict — through the medium of film. As a tribute to the past, Vietnam 50!, taking place far from Vietnam, is a call to reflect on the unspoken, the hidden, and the unsent messages that continue to resonate through time. It reminds of the transformative power of cinema to heal, to question, and to reimagine the future.

Section Revolutionary Cinema: 

With the support of the Vietnam Film Institute, the program introduces the following four classic films: On the Same River(1959), Mrs. Tư Hậu (1962), The Little Girl of Hanoi (1974), The Legend of Mother(1987).

Section South Vietnamese Cinema: "[..] hundreds of films were produced during the nation-state’s short life between 1955 and 1975. Only two dozen of these films are on YouTube. These films rely on heterosexual romantic relationships and gender norms to convey emotions the South Vietnamese felt in the early ‘70s." (Scarlette Nhi Do) "Green Age" (1974) by Thái Thúc Hoàng Điệp aka Didi will be screened in Berlin for the first time.

Section Post-war & Contemporary: The four films explore the lingering echoes and lasting impacts of the war, including one feature-length film and three shorts: The Future Cries Beneath Our Soil (2018), Grilled Rice - The Remained One (2019), The Unburied Sounds of a Troubled Horizon (2022), and The Sounds of Cannons Familiar Like Sad Refrains (2021). At the intersection of cinema and moving image, the artists–filmmakers reconstruct portraits of the past through collective fragments of the present.

Section Diaspora:Hao Are You (2023) and Vietnam 50! Hao Are You (2024) trace personal journeys into the past, as two second-generation filmmakers from Germany and the US seek to heal the fractures within their family histories.

Section Documentaries: Two documentaries from Western filmmakers, Grilled Rice - The Remained One (2001) and Dust and Metal (2022), offer fresh perspectives.

The former sketches a portrait of North Vietnamese cameramen in the resistance against French and American armies. Meanwhile, the later observes Vietnam’s past and present through the symbol of the motorbike."