On Finding Hope: 8 Films To Watch At Vietnamese Film Festival In Berlin
Vietnam Here & There film festival, offers a glimpse into the act of finding hope in Vietnam.
Between dream and reality, there is hope. But what does hope look like in different contexts, countries and cultures? Vietnam Here & There film festival, offers a glimpse into the act of finding hope in Vietnam.
Curated by Luu Bich Ngoc and Tran An, the festival traces Vietnamese and diasporic filmmaking practices, reflecting on the shifts of the pre-1980s period up to the present, when sociopolitical transformations gave rise to new cinematic currents and forms of storytelling. Together, hope is sketched as something constantly negotiated between past and future, homeland and elsewhere.
A selection of works has been developed in dialogue with the Like The Moon In A Night Sky, an initiative dedicated to revisiting Vietnamese film heritage.
Here are 8 films from this year’s lineup worth watching. More details can be found on Babylon Cinema’s website.
The Tree House (Truong Minh Quy, 2019)
2045 on Mars. The filmmaker follows the hermit life of Ruc and Kor people who live in solitude on Vietnam’s mountainous areas. In “The Tree House”, the migration of those who had to move their homes because of political circumstances is juxtaposed with humankind’s migration to Mars in the future.
Farewell Ha Long (Duc Ngo Ngoc, 2017)
A documentary about the floating village in the beautiful Vietnamese bay of Ha Long, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2014, the government wanted to relocate the inhabitants here to the mainland. The resettlement is seen through the perspective of a little family, who has lived for generations in their self-built hut on a raft.
Summer School, 2001 (Dužan Duong, 2025)
After 10 years in Vietnam, Kien returns to his family's market stall in Cheb, but finds a distant father, tired mother, and harsh younger brother instead of the warm welcome he expected. The film brings an authentic look into the life of the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic.
The Inseminator (Bui Kim Quy 2014)
A family lives in isolation on a rural mountaintop. Obsessed with ensuring the continuity of their ancestral lineage, the widowed patriarch endeavours to find a suitable wife for his mentally challenged son. When attempts prove futile, he turns to his unwed daughter instead. As his actions grow violent, strange occurrences begin to befall the family.
“A rare and powerful female voice in Southeast Asian cinema. A feminist statement and scathing satire of patriarchy.”
Along The Sea (Akio Fujimoto, 2020)
Three young Vietnamese migrant workers in Japan, who moved to Japan to work as technical trainees. As they decide to escape their workplace, where their passports have been confiscated, they are now illegal migrants in the country.
A Tale Of Love (Jean-Paul Bourdier & Trinh T. Minh-Ha, 1995)
“Kiều, a Vietnamese immigrant, works as a freelance writer, navigating between a new life, the family she left behind, and her ambitions. Her family does not support her choices of being a nude model - as they do not understand the environment which conditions her decisions. Trinh T. Minh-ha blends linear and non-linear narrative, where events play out in a paraspace of memory, dream, and reality.” (Brian Whitener)
Good Mourning Vietnam (Huong D. Ta, 2026)
“To grieve deeply is to learn how to live fully. That is what Vietnam taught me.” Two women offer their voice to unspoken sorrow, and ensure that the passage from life to death is marked with dignity. The first feature by Huong D. Ta is about an extraordinary yet fading tradition of professional mourners in a small village in Northern Vietnam.
Three Seasons (Tony Bui, 1999)
Saigon, late 1990s. Five people search for happiness in a metropolis suspended between tradition and modernity: A cyclo driver. A child peddler. A lotus farmer. A prostitute. A former U.S. Marine.
The first American–Vietnamese co-production filmed entirely in Vietnam. The film made history at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award, and Best Cinematography Award.
Their stories are interwoven into the past, present, and future of a city undergoing economic transition.