Discoveries from Vietnam World Cinema

Elysium Without Shores portrays a múa bóng rỗi ritual on an island in the Mekong Delta. As dancers raise their voices in prayer, their collective performance ultimately culminates in the destruction of a hydroelectric dam system, and the inhabitants take on a new role within the island’s ecosystem. A singular animation that merges our human world with that of celestial beings.

After hearing about a pagoda's mysterious disappearance, a group of filmmakers embarks on their journey to find an explanation.

For her sixth birthday, a little girl receives her first box of coloured pencils from her mother

Phương and his sister Vân reunite after years of separation in the war, but their clashing political affiliations soon set them apart.

A feature film with Southern Vietnamese music performance.

The Vietnam War from the North's viewpoint. Air raids on Hanoi stiffen the resolve of the population to strike back against a far more powerful enemy.

After an accident, the husband becomes paralyzed. Yet the wife stays in the marriage to take care of him daily. The film is full of beautiful shots which sadden the couple’s distress even more as it evokes a lovely past that was not so further away but will forever stay as memory. Sadness initiates beautiful dream that soon turns to wishful thinking and breaks into despair. The story of The Cat and the Orange Seeds is not a new one yet the way it is done, it is a tragedy beautifully told with pure cinematic beauty and capable of truly touching tour heart.

An exasperated intellectual bourgeoisie leaves his home for the criminal underworld and becomes the second-in-command for 1970s Saigon most feared gangster, Dai Cathay.

Hai Cũ, a notorious outlaw robbing from the rich to give to the poor, writes to Hồ Chí Minh hoping to secure pardon for his subordinates and is then sent to work as a foreman for a military company. The company's officer turns out to be the student who has accidentally helped him to escape the police many years ago.

A story about the brotherhood of Bau and Bi.

Over the course of a day, from a café to the water’s edge, Hoàng and Hân drift into a detached romance whose reality seems to lie only in the telling, which comes later.

Kim Van Kieu is a Vietnamese film made by the Indochina Film and Screening Studio directed by Paul Thierry, adapted from Nguyen Du 's Tale of Kieu, first released in 1924. This is considered the first feature film produced in Vietnam and also the work that gave birth to Vietnamese cinema. It follows closely the story "Đoạn trường tân thanh", commonly known as simply "Truyện Kiều" (The Story of Kieu). This is considered the most famous classic poem in Vietnamese literature. The story is based on the prose series Kim Van Kieu by Thanh Tam Tai Nhan and set in China during the reign of Emperor Gia Tinh during the Ming Dynasty (from 1521 to 1567). The characters include governor Ho Ton Hien, prostitute Vuong Thuy Kieu, and Tu Hai, a real historical figure who was a merchant and pirate leader of the Ming Dynasty.

Restaurant owner Tang the 11th, learning his older brother, Tang the First is ill, returns to the his remote native village, long plagued by leprosy. Superstition holds that a cure can be obtained when a family of five sons and five daughters makes possible the death of a fish from the Lake of Heaven, since the leprosy remedy is in the flesh of this fish. It just so happens that Tang the 11th has five sons, four daughters, and a pregnant wife.

A scooter cab driver goes through a night of unexpected events that may cost him his life when his past catches up with him.

Following the success of two feature films adapted from Nguyễn Nhật Ánh's renowned works, another standout masterpiece by Vietnam's most celebrated modern author is set to hit the big screen: Kính Vạn Hoa. Helming this blockbuster project is none other than the "hundred-billion director" Võ Thanh Hòa.

TAM VU, a retired photographer, clings himself onto a rundown pho joint where he believes that the essence of his deceased wife would still remain with him, as long as the shop is open. This ultimately puts a strain onto his relationship with his son LAM, the only bridge that connects him to reality.

In the dune landscape of a cemetery, or is it golf course? Past and present converge in the search for a grave.

A man walks into a pho stall.

Suong, a young girl from rural Vietnam, migrates to the bustling city of Ho Chi Minh City to work in a local eatery with two other migrant workers. Within the caging, barren walls of the eatery, their days are filled with repetitive tasks and with vacuous, tedious hours. However, behind her veil of apathy, Suong battles a dilemma that she soon has to face with her family.

The film explores the ways in which material contains memory and holds potential for transformation, reincarnation, and healing. It is inspired by the people of Quang Tri, on the North Central Coast of Vietnam, one of the most heavily bombed areas in the history of modern warfare. The story centers around a woman named Nguyet and her mother, who run a small junkyard on the outskirts of Quang Tri, and Nguyet's cousin Lai. Nguyet earns her living by scavenging and selling pieces of UXO (unexploded ordnances). She also compulsively crafts hanging mobiles from the remnants of the UXO. By chance, she discovers she that these sculptures, which are drawn from her own imagination, hold a remarkable resemblance to the works of Alexander Calder. She embarks on a journey to uncover the source of this uncanny likeness. [Overview courtesy of James Cohan Gallery]

A magical encounter leaves a young woman with a dog that must help her romance a pop star in order to transform back into a human.

When Bao, a young mechanic, dismantles a 90s car in his old garage, he unwittingly unleashes a sinister force. As haunting events spiral out of control, the arrival of a mysterious investigator reveals long-buried secrets of greed and human brutality.

A young doctor gets a new job in a haunted hospital where he meets a beautiful nurse, together they uncover the hospitals secrets. A horror comedy about a young doctor taking a new post, only to learn that the patients who passed away there may not have left after all. This place frequented by ghosts, as if they were just like living people, is Ghost Hospital.

Trung believes that his cruel words have caused the death of his boyfriend, Mạnh. That makes his life sink to sadness and loneliness. Being a ghost, Mạnh doesn't want to see his boyfriend live like this. He starts a plan to let Trung fall in love with another boy, Hiếu. And then the story begins…

After losing his eyesight in a tragic accident, a once-successful young man retreats into isolation, struggling to accept a life that no longer resembles the one he knew. To help him navigate daily life, he hires a university student as his caregiver. Their relationship begins awkwardly, shaped by frustration, pride, and the difficulties of dependence, but gradually the young man’s warmth and patience begin to break through the walls of bitterness and despair. As trust grows, their connection deepens into something more intimate, offering the possibility of love and renewed purpose. Yet their bond is tested by jealousy, social prejudice, and the expectations of those around them. Faced with emotional wounds and outside pressure, the two men must decide whether they are willing to fight for a future together despite the obstacles that stand in their way.

A mother and her sons are in front of the camera. The past is hanging, the future uncertain. A sensory trip through grief, fractured realism, and poetic turmoil.

A famous artist invites her old friends to her luxurious new home. For one night only, the group is back together. But celebrations come to an abrupt end when the host suffers a horrific accident. As the victim lies in a coma, an almost unthinkable plan starts to take shape: could her suffering be their next work of art? Pool (No Water) is a visceral and shocking play about the fragility of friendship and the jealousy and resentment inspired by success.

A young boy's dream of dancing ballet comes true in a most unexpected way.

Dũng, a well-accomplished leader of a platoon, is suddenly sent back to the rear to help the militia transport supplies and ammunitions to the frontlines. He reluctantly heeds his superiors’ order, and soon finds himself acquainted with Nhàn, one of the militia’s most hardworking members.

The film explores the complex dynamics between a brother and sister: entwined with themes of love, jealousy, resentment, and the unexpected burdens of family. When disaster suddenly strikes his sister, the brother finds himself forced to confront it head-on, unraveling the tangled web of emotions and consequences that follow.

High schooler Ha Vy falls in love with a Teacher's College student doing his final internship at her school.

A heartfelt letter to mother – A gift to friends. Interwoven between reality and the past during a National Defense Education course for a group of young people are glimpses into youth, friendship, and the challenges of adulthood.

A documentary look into life in Saigon, very soon after April 30, 1975.

Sequel to the movie '49 Days'. The film revolves around a guy named Huy who lost his memory due to an accident, more tragically he was stalked by a beautiful ghost who lost her memory.

A Vietnamese classical opera (tuồng) based on the exploits of Lady Bui Thi Xuan, a leading admiral and swordsman under Tay Son dynasty. Staged and filmed in 1976 at Northern Vietnam National Theatre for Classical Opera.

In an old district of Hanoi, formerly a village, new loud speakers must be repaired and installed. By observing everyday life, Vang Anh films with humor the animation caused by this event and plunges us into the heart of Vietnamese contradictions.

The film explores the theme of war, depicting the extremely harsh realities of people’s lives, interwoven with love stories of young people during wartime.

Following the disappearance of his girlfriend, a young man named Phong investigated a mysterious figure online who is believed to cause the deaths of those who 'friend' him on Facebook and his nickname is "Dream Man", including deaths of Phong's friends who is Thao and Thang. Phong and Cuong decided to find out the secret about "Dream Man" and finally realized many horrible truths as well as everything around them.

A narcissist loses himself in an endless labyrinth, where an exit seems never to have existed. His story is told through the voice of a ventriloquist’s puppet that slowly takes on his face and soul, as his heart and mind are quietly torn apart by the rot within.

In 1993, a ballet dancer, whose marriage is suffering from the recent death of her daughter and financial difficulties, leaves for Russia with her friends to find work to support her husband as well as artistic passion.