A movie by director Dang Nhat Minh entitled Thương Nhớ Đồng Quê (Nostalgia for the Countryside) was screened last night, kicking off the Vietnam Film Festival in New Delhi.

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Actress Le Van in "When the Tenth Month Comes".

Set in a small village in the north of Vietnam, the movie is a tale of awakening and traces the love triangle between a 17-year-old boy, his lonely and naive sister-in-law with whom he works closely in the fields, and a stylish vivacious expatriate who has just returned from the city and is curious about life in the village where she spent her childhood.

The movie was made in early 1995 by Minh and commissioned by NHK television as part of celebrations to mark the 100th birthday of cinema. It was one of the five films to be screened at the First Asian Film Festival in the same year in Tokyo. The other films were from India, Thailand, Mongolia and Iran.

Minh’s two other movies titled Bao Giờ Cho Đến Tháng Mười (When the Tenth Month Comes) and Đừng Đốt (Don’t Burn) are also being shown at the festival.

When the Tenth Month Comes is a psychological drama that debuted in 1984. It is considered one of the best movies on Vietnamese people and their cultural identity.

The movie was among CNN’s 18 best Asian films of all time in 2008.

The movie Don’t Burn is based on the popular Đặng Thùy Trâm Diary. It won the Audience Award at Japan’s Fukuoka Film Festival in 2009, besides the many other awards in Vietnam.

The New Delhi festival is also screening other Vietnamese movies -- Con Chim Vành Khuyên (Passerine Bird) by Nguyen Van Thong, Em Bé Hà Nội (Little Girl of Hanoi) by Hai Ninh and Những Đứa Con Của Làng (Children of the Village) by Nguyen Duc Viet, as well as Nhà Tiên Tri (The Prophet) by Vuong Duc, Chuyện Của Pao (Pao’s Story) by Quang Hai and Hoa Vàng Trên Cỏ Xanh (Yellow Flowers on The Green Grass) by Victor Vu.

The event has been organised by the Vietnamese embassy and the Culture Ministry in co-ordination with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the India International Centre (IIC).

The film festival will help Indians discover more about Vietnamese people and their country, ICCR director Shri C.Rajasekhar said.

Rajasekhar also highly appreciated the efficient manner in which the Vietnamese film festival was organised in India and said Vietnam is very special to Indians.

The film festival will run until May 23.

VNS