The movie was directed by Truong Minh Quy and will compete in the Un Certain Regard (A Certain Glance) category, which is presented to international films that tell stories in non-traditional ways.

The movie tells a story about two coal miners Nam and Viet who are working 300 metres below ground where danger awaits and darkness prevails. Nam doesn’t want his future to continue with coal and hires someone to smuggle him into the western world. Before departing, Nam goes on a journey with Viet and his mother, who claims that Nam’s father-a Vietnamese soldier, calls out in her dreams to find his missing body.

Truong Minh Quy, 34, was born in Buon Ma Thuot city in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

He is an alumnus of the 2012 Asian Film Academy (Busan International Film Festival) and 2016 Berlinale Talents. His films have been selected for a number of international film festivals and exhibitions such as the Locarno International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, IFFR, the Busan International Film Festival, and Les Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin.

He won the main Art Prize at the 20th VideoBrasil held back in 2017 in São Paulo. His second feature came in 2019 with The Tree House and premiered at the Locarno Film Festival where it was acclaimed as “one of the festival’s three best premieres” by MUBI and “a singular entrancing ode to memory and filmmaking” by The Film Stage. The film went on to be screened at major festivals worldwide.

VOV