VietNamNet Bridge – First short films made by people with disabilities in Viet Nam were shown at Cong Nhan Theatre on April 2.

Film director Do Thi Hien (first from left) and hearing impaired cameraman Pham Van Thuc (centre) are watching a scene in Chuyen Bạn Tay. Photo courtesy of Filmmaking For Deaf People Project

The films include documentaries and motion pictures, which were made by people with hearing impairment.

The ten documentaries and two films are the result of the Filmmaking Project for Deaf People. The project was launched by filmmaker Do Thi Hien, a new graduate, and her friend.

The four-month project was implemented from December, 2015, to March 2016.

In the first two months of the project, 12 selected hearing impaired people were trained in filmmaking. Then they produced their own films in the following two months.

“I think cinema is a good way to help the people with hearing impairment express themselves,” Hien said.

She also can communicate in the deaf people’s sign language.

 “All people in the project have difficult situations, but they share a love of filmmaking. After four months, they write scripts and shoot films by themselves,” Hien said.

The filmmakers made 10 individual documentaries and worked in two groups, shooting two films entitled Tap De Vang (Golden Apron) by Nguyen Hong Canh and Chuyen Ban Tay (Friends from Hands) by Nguyen Thai Thanh.

“It is the first time I came to know about filmmaking,” Nguyen Hong Canh said, communicating in sign language.

“The most difficult thing for me as a film director is to arrange suitable times for all actors because they don’t have much free time. I had to shoot a scene several times to show the characters’ emotions.”

The other documentaries are Con Duong Rong Mo (Broad Way); Vien Gach Yeu Thuong (Brick of Love) and Co Gai Co Uoc Mo Mua (A Girl Dreams of Dancing).

 “Short documentaries are personal stories of filmmakers. Con Duong Rong Mo by Nguyen Ngoc Anh has an interesting viewpoint,” Hien said. “It is a moving film about a translator who communicates between deaf people and people with normal hearing.”

The Filmmaking Project for Deaf People was selected along with four others from Viet Nam by the South Korean Lotte Window, under the theme of Peace and Development through Art and Culture by the United Nations-Habitat.

VNS