A film on French playwright and director Marine Bachelot Nguyen’s Les Ombres Et Les Lèvres (Gays and Lesbians), a production on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Viet Nam, will be screened in HCM City on Tuesday’s night.

A scene from Les Ombres Et Les Lèvres (Gays and Lesbiens), a play on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Việt Nam written and directed by Marine Bachlot Nguyen.(Photo courtesy of the French Institute in Viet Nam)

The play is about men and women who face challenges in their careers and private lives after revealing their sexuality and having sex change operations, a “sensitive” issue in Viet Nam. 

It focuses on LGBT rights and public opinion about the LGBT community.

Nguyen met, worked with and interviewed dozens of lesbians, gays and transgender people in various cities to feature their stories in Les Ombres Et Les Lèvres.

The play was first staged at the National Theatre of Bretagne in 2016.

It was filmed and subtitled in English and Vietnamese. It also shows the making of the play.

Les Ombres Et Les Lèvres, Bóng và Ô Môi in Vietnamese, will be screened at 6:30pm at IDECAF on Lê Thánh Tôn Street, District 1. Entry is free.

Nguyen along with artists and members of the ICS Centre, which counsels LGBT people, will meet the audience after the show.

Nguyen began her career as a scriptwriter for the Theatre of Folle Pensée after studying literature and performing arts.  

In 2014 she won scholarships in theatre and performing arts from Villeneuve-lès-Avignon Commune in Southern France, the National Book Centre, and the French Institute in Viet Nam.

Her plays have been staged in France, Switzerland and Africa.   

She now works for the Capital Circulations project launched by the French Institute in HCM City. – VNS