Programs
Viet and Nam
FILMeX Competition
Still by nicolas-graux
Introduction
Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, France, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, United States / 2024 / 129 min
Director：TRUONG Minh Quý
Two miners in their twenties, Viet and Nam. Their work lives are dusty and uniform, although hundreds of meters below in the dark they nurture a secret love. Their fathers both lost to war, Nam sets out with his mother and Ba, an old Viet Cong buddy of his father’s, to seek out his father’s remains in the forest of the Central Highlands, scattered with half-buried weapons. Viet goes with them, partly out of apprehension over Nam’s plan to stow away and sneak out of the country. Set in Vietnam in 2001, when the deep scars of the twenty years of war were still raw, the film portrays through the story of two miners in love the struggles and anguish of being young and queer in postwar Vietnam, as well as the challenges faced by the country itself. An exquisite film, filmed with an entrancing, subtle, and evocative quality, it is also rich in symbolism that aims to reveal the profound, hidden depths that lie beneath the surface. This is the second feature film by Trương Minh Quý, who garnered acclaim for his debut film, “Treehouse” (2019). This film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival.
Director：TRUONG Minh Quý
Trương Minh Quý was born in Buon Ma Thuot, a small city in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Quý lives and works, here and there, in the vibrancy of memories and present moments, his narratives and images, lying between documentary and fiction, personal and impersonal, draw on the landscape of his homeland, childhood memories, and the historical context of Vietnam. In his films, he has experimented with combining abstract concepts-images with realistic improvisations during shooting.
He is the alumnus of 2012 Asian Film Academy (Busan International Film Festival) and 2016 Berlinale Talents (Berlin International Film Festival). His films have been selected for international film festivals and exhibitions such as Locarno, New York, Clermont-Ferrand, Oberhausen, Rotterdam, Busan, Les Rencontres Internationales Paris&Berlin.
His second feature film, The Tree House, premiered in 72nd Locarno Film Festival (Filmmakers of The Present Competition), where it was called as “Three of the festival’s best premieres” by Mubi. The film continued to screen in 57th New York Film Festival (Projection), Viennale, Festival Des 3 Continents (Competition), Rotterdam International Film Festival (Bright Future Main Program), CPH:DOX (Artist & Auteur), Goteborg International Film Festival, and others. In 2021, his French language film Les Attendants, competed for the Berlinale Golden Bear shorts.
In 2024, Quy premiered his third feature film, Viet and Nam, at the Festival de Cannes in Un Certain Regard.
Schedule
11/23（Sat）21:00 -
Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho
11/28（Thu）15:15 -
Marunouchi TOEI
Guest
DAO Duy Bao Dinh （Cast）