Bicycle Doctors
VN 11 Echols 1990 Documentary 28 min.
VHS/NTSC Excellent
Southeast Asia-Ozark
Project
Carousel Films, 1501 Broadway, New York, NY 10036; (212) 354-0315
Dir: Mark Biggs; Prod: Larry
Rottmann English
Set amid the stunning beauty of Hue, the film chronicles the daily
life of a Vietnamese medical family. Provides glimpses into (& critiques
of) the contemporary Vietnamese medical system and education. Shows the spirit,
intelligence, humor and passion of the Vietnamese people, as well as their
commitment to their fellow-countrymen.
Cyclo
In the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, a
young cyclo (pedicab driver) transports anonymous passengers
through the teeming streets, trying to
eke out a meager living for his elderly grandfather and two
sisters. When his bicycle is stolen by a local gang, he
descends into the gruesome underbelly of
this corrupt and violent city. Seduced by easy money, the Cyclo
is swept deeper into a crime ring
led by the quietly charismatic
Poet. Unbeknown to the Cyclo
his older sister has also been
mesmerized by Poet and turns to
prostitution to please him.
(In Vietnamese with English
subtitles). 123-min; 1997.
Dan Ca Quan Jo Bac Ninh Va Cheo Vietnam 13
VN 15 Music 1991 Performance 183 min
VHS/NTSC & PAL Video poor; audio good Audio & Visual Center of Vietnam
Dir/prod: Viet Cuong Vietnamese
Popular folk singers Selected musical performances of several genres
of traditional Vietnamese performing arts, including folk and popular music, as
well as opera.
Dat Nuoc Da Song Lai (A Country is Reborn)
VN 33 Echols 1979 Documentary 40 min
VHS/NTSC & 16 mm Weak sound track
Quoc Doanh Fat Hanh Fim (Peoples Army Film Company) Stephen Graw
Dir/prod: Hoang Van Bon et al Vietnamese
Vietnamese propaganda film promoting the Vietnamese view of their
occupation/liberation of Cambodia. The film follows the consequences of the Pol
Pot era and the Vietnamese assisted takeover by Heng Sam Rin in 1979.
Dat To Nghin Xua
VN 4 Echols Documentary 67 min
VHS/NTSC Poor Dat Viet Media Inc., Canada Vietnamese
Documentary about Vietnamese culture and
history.
Dem Nhac Van Cao CNVN No. 8
(An Evening of Music with Van Cao)
VN 14 Music 1990 Documentary; Performance 184
min
VHS/PAL & NTSC Vietnamese
Van Cao & various contemporary popular
singers Homage to Van Cao, composer & painter. Traces themes in Van Cao's
life, shows footage of him playing the piano, and features various singers
performing his songs.
Du Kich Cu Chi (Cu Chi Guerilla Warfare)
VN 25 Echols 1967 Documentary 22 min.
VHS/NTSC & PAL Poor audio and video (yellowed with age)
Giai Phong (Liberation Films)
English (voice-over)
Propaganda film about the underground resistance movement near
Saigon. Shows life in the village & countryside, under the threat of
American destruction during the war. Anti-American sentiments expressed.
Going Back: Return to Vietnam
VN 43 SEAP Outreach Kahin Center 1985 Documentary 52 min
VHS/NTSC Virginia Productions/Central Productions Bullfrog Films
Dir/prod: David Munro Vietnamese
In December, 1981, four former U.S soldiers returned to Vietnam to
explore the MIA and Agent Orange issues. Tells the story of a remarkable
journey by the first American combat troops to return to Vietnam since the end
of the war. It also documents an internal emotional journey through which they
found compassion for the Vietnamese people, resolved to help with humanitarian
aid, and came to question the justification for the war.
Hau Bong Vietnam
VN 2 Echols 1989 Documentary 119 min
VHS/NTSC Dir/prod: Trang Cong Thinh Vietnamese
Only slightly edited footage, without narration, of a ceremony in which
a spirit medium incarnates the different stages of a mandarin/ancestor's
initiation.
Hearts and Minds
VN 6 SEAP Outreach Kahin Center 1974 Documentary 112 min.
VHS/NTSC Howard Zuker/Henry Jadiom; Rainbow Pictures Embassy Home Entertainment
Dir. by Peter Davis; prod. by Bert
Schneider & Peter Davis English
Explores the events of the Vietnam War and the attitudes that led
the U.S. into its longest and most controversial war. Examines the politics and
ideals that resulted in a conflict that continues to haunt Americans.
In Vietnam, one of the last communist nations, Ho
Chi Minh remains the father figure for the nation. For many in the West there remains a fascination with Uncle
Ho, the frail, idealistic leader who against seemingly insurmountable odds
humiliated two of the world’s strongest armies, the American and the
French. This film, based on
newsreel footage and interviews with contemporaries, traces the story of his
life. 52 mins. Filmakers Library.
Hoi An Tourist Film
VN 3 Echols - Documentary 27 min
VHS/NTSC Video clear, but faded color Vuong
Dir/prod: Nguyen Thi Quy Vietnamese
and English Versions
Narrator: Tuyet Mai;
Commentator: To Nga
Documentary about the historic town of Hoi
An, a significant port in the 17th century-- a site where Europeans, Japanese
and Chinese traded. The film traces the historic sites of the town, temples and
archaeological discoveries.
Huong (Burning Incense)
VN 29 SEAP Outreach Kahin Center & Echols 1994 Documentary 20 min
VHS/NTSC Nora Taylor
Dir/prod: Nora Taylor English (also
available in French)
Discusses ways in which Vietnamese works of art merge with daily
life: paintings are created out of a reverence for the landscape and village
spirits. The result of collaboration between SEAP grad student Nora Taylor, two
Vietnamese cinematographers and an artist.
Indochine
Catherine Deneuve stars as Eliane Devries, the seemingly repressed owner of a prosperous rubber plantation in French Indochina. Her steely exterior, however, is only a mask intended to hide her torrid love affairs from upper-class society. But, when her adopted Indochinese daughter innocently falls in love with Eliane’s secret lover, the scandalous lovers’ triangle threatens to destroy their entire family. A sensual story of unbridled passion set against the violence of the bloody Communist uprising, it is a historically accurate, emotionally wrenching epic of love and war. Academy Award winner. 156-min; 1992.
Kim Phuc
VN 8 SEAP Outreach Kahin Center 1984 Documentary 25 min.
VHS/NTSC First Run/Icarus Dir.: Manus van der Kamp English
A flashback to the trauma of Kim Phuc, a young girl who was photographed
in June 1972 as she ran, naked and burned by napalm, along a road in Vietnam.
Because of this photo, she became one of the indelible images of the war.
Through interviews with Kim Phuc, her family and journalists, the film points
to the unhealed wounds and lingering horrors of Vietnam. At the same time, Kim
Phuc is a symbol of a people facing the future with hope.
Lament of a Warrior's Wife
VN 23 Echols & SEAP Outreach Kahin Center 1991 Documentary 55 min.
VHS/NTSC Excellent Asia Resource Center Asia Resource Center
Dir/prod: Bob Kane English
Other films have focused on the subject of American MIAs. This film
specifically examines the plight of both Vietnamese and American MIAs, and sets
out to dispel the notion that the Vietnamese people do not value life as
Westerners do. Wives and mothers of Vietnamese soldiers talk passionately about
love and war. The film points out that the war left about one million
Vietnamese dead, one million disabled, and two million suffering from diseases
and mental disorders.
Letters to Thien
Profiles the life of Thien Minh Ly, who, while out rollerblading, was brutally murdered in Tustin, California. The effects of this senseless crime upon family, friends, and community members are expressed through interviews. Also includes excerpts of letters written to the deceased victim after his death that express sense of loss, grief, and anger. 55-min; 1997
The Mekong, A Turbulent River: The Making in Vietnam (series)
The Mekong Delta, with its islands, canals, and mangrove swamps, has become a region of economic opportunity. In this program, village entrepreneurs working in the fishery, rice, entertainment, and passenger boat businesses recount their difficulties in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and their successes since the shift to a market economyh. Althought the signs of war in the rice-growing portions of the Delta have virtually disappeared, the sue of pesticides is threatening the water quality. In addition, the deforestation of the mangrove swamps is endangering the Delta;s entire ecosystems. (52 minutes, color 1999) See also: Cambodia, Tibet, Thailand and Laos.
Ngot ngao Am Dieu Que Huong
(Sweet Melodies from the Homeland)
VN 5 Music c1991 Performance 168 min
VHS/NTSC & PAL Vietnamese
Various contemporary singeres &
performers Performances of popular folk music in modern stage setting.
Alternate title (possibly TV series): "Tuyen Chon Dan Ca Viet Nam."
See list of selections & performers.
Regret to Inform
Venturing to Vietnam twenty years after
her husband was killed in a mortar attack, filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn finds a
mesmerizing landscape filled with psychic remnants of war. Getting beyond the physical and
emotional devastation, she talks to those on all sides
of the struggle, discovering a
common bond in loss and ultimately understanding. Filled with extraordinary archival footage,
breathtaking visions of modern day Vietnam, and heart-wrenching stories from both
American and Vietnamese women who lost their husbands to war, this powerful
documentary takes the viewer on an unforgettable journey that began with the
phrase, “We regret to inform you…”
Winner of seven major awards and an Oscar nominee. 72-min; 1998.
Set in Vietnam in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, it is the story of a shy peasant girl, who comes to Saigon at the age of ten as a household servant. Beneath the calm exteriors of the lovely home where she works is an undercurrent of lost love and marital discord. Attuned to the people around her and enchanted by nature, Mui grows into a beautiful young woman who inspires her upper class lover to break with convention. A love story of exquisite beauty and originality that won the coveted Cannes Camera d’Or, and was nominated for an Academy Award. (In Vietnamese with English subtitles). 104-min; 1993.
Song of Harmonics
VN 39 Music 1989 Documentary 38 min
VHS/NTSC
CNRS Audiovisuel & Societe Francaise d'Ethnomusicologie CNRS Au diovisuel
Dir/prod: Hugo Zemp French and Mongol; English subtitles & voice-over
Tran Quang Hai & Hugo Zemp
An introductory course conducted by Tran Quang Hai in diphonic singing (a
practice in which a single person sings two voices at the same time), a concert
and interviews with Mongolian singers, X-ray and spectrographical pictures, in
real time and synchronous sound, show how this unique vocal technique operates.
South: New Bosses
VN 36 Echols 1991 Documentary 13 min.
VHS/NTSC Excellent.
South Productions
for Channel 4, in association with RTVE (Spain) and SBS (Australia)
First Run/Icarus Films, 153 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10014
Dir: Le Trac/Prod: Tran Thanh Hung English
Part of the South series: anthology of works created by film and
video makers from developing nations reflecting the concerns of those nations.
"New Bosses" examines the Vietnamese government's introduction of Doi
Moi, a radical shift toward a market economy.
Three Seasons
The war is over, but a personal battle continues to rage. It is the new Vietnam, and the beautiful old city of Saigon is quickly fading into the neon glare of Western progress, leaving four ordinary people as expatriates in their own country. Young Kien An is a living memory of the old ways. Hired to pick white lotuses for a reclusive ex-poet, her singing reminds him of his youth and inspires him to write again. In the center of the city, Hai, a cyclo (pedicab) driver, enters a race hoping to win fifty dollars to spend an evening with an ambitious prostitute he has fallen for. Meanwhile, Woody, a street urchin who sells trinkets from a suitecasehung around his neck meets an ex-GI searching for the daughter he left behind in the war. Woven together, these haunting stories paint a portrait of a country in transition…a culture which, through a second invasion by its former enemy, will never be the same. Triple Award Winner, 1999 Sundance Film Festival. 110-min; 1999.
Tu Hoc Nau An (3 vol.)
VN 32 Echols Documentary 103 min
VHS/NTSC & PAL Excellent
Phong Nam Film Vietnamese
Demonstration of traditional Vietnamese
cooking.
TV Talk on Vietnam War
VN 10 Echols 1989 Documentary 26 min
VHS/NTSC Channel 13 Channel 13
Dir/prod: Jim Evans, John Ewing & Eric Patterson English
Vis. Prof. Christine White
Prof. Christine White is a guest on
"Left Angle," a local TV program. She discusses her work, the Vietnam
War, issues related to politics and society, as well as Vietnamese-U.S.
relations in the late 1980s.
Van Cao: Buoi sang co tong su
that
(A Day in the Life of Van Cao)
VN 20 Echols 1995 Documentary 58 min
VHS/NTSC Excellent: Professionally made; good footage
Hang Phim Tre (Youth Film Co,)
Dir/prod: Dinh Anh Dung
Vietnamese
Van Cao & various contemporary popular singers Documentary on
Van Cao--composer & painter. Features interviews with Van Cao &
performances by popular singers.
Vietnam: A Television History (7 vol.)
VN 26 Echols 1987 Documentary 780 min
VHS/NTSC & 3/4" U-matic WGBH Boston
Exec. Prod.: Richard Ellison
English
Chief Correspondent: Stanley Karnow; Dir. of Media Research: Lawrence Richty
The Vietnam War, the first war to be
televised to the American public, changed a generation and continues to color
American thinking in many military and foreign policy issues. This award-winning
13-hour documentary traces the history of the conflict from the French
occupation through U.S. involvement and homefront dissension to the war's
lasting consequences.
Vietnam: In the Year of the Pig
VN 7 SEAP Outreach Kahin Center 1968 Documentary 103 min.
VHS/NTSC MPI
Dir/prod: Emile de Antonio English
Uses newsreel footage spliced with interviews to trace the
Vietnamese struggle for national self-determination against the French, the
Japanese and the Americans. This montage provides a devastating commentary on
the double-think and confusioncontributing to, and resulting from, U.S.
involvement in Vietnam.
Vietnam: Picking Up The Pieces
VN 17 SEAP Outreach Kahin Center 1977 Documentary 60 min.
VHS/NTSC & 3/4" U-matic Dountown Community TV Center
Dountown Community TV Center, 87 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10013
English
A group of American TV Journalists tour
Vietnam after the reunification and document the efforts to rebuild the
country.
Village Festival
VN 37 Music 1994 Documentary; Raw Footage 27 min
VHS/NTSC Vietnamese
Raw footage, without narration, of a
village festival, including a celebration in a Buddhist temple, a traditional
music ensemble, musical drama & interviews.
Visions of War: Battle for Dien Bien Phu
VN 1 SEAP Outreach Kahin Center & Echols 1988 Documentary 50 min
VHS/NTSC Vistar International Production New Star Entertainment
English
"Hell in a very small place," is how one survivor described the
Vietminh Siege at Dien Bien Phu in early 1954. Like Midway and Stalingrad, it
ranks as one of the most decisive and seminal battles of recent times. In
addition, the French defeat there led directly to the US involvement in
Vietnam, with all that it entailed. Unique archival film of the struggle from
both sides has been incorporated with notable contributions from some of the
principal survivors. The background story is traced from France's colonization
of Indo China followed by Japan's occupation during the early 1940s and the
eventual Allied liberation.
Western Classical Music Performed By Vietnamese Children
VN 18 Music 1990 Performance 93 min
VHS/NTSC Vietnamese
Footage of the National Music (Classical)
Competition, Autumn 1990. Features young violinists.
When Night Comes
VN 22 SEAP Outreach Kahin Center 1987 Documentary 23 min.
VHS/NTSC Excellent
Asia Resource Center/Computer Generated Imagery
The Media Guild, 11722 Sorrento Valley Rd, Suite E, San Diego, CA; (800)
886-9191
English
Award-winning video describing the effects of Vietnam's economic policies during the late 1980s, the daily lives of Vietnamese and beautiful countryside. Also gives a glimpse of the war years, with a crawl through the tunnels of Cu Chi, and look at the conversion of war materiel for daily use. Since this film was made, many changes have taken place. The government of Vietnam has instituted economic reforms geared towards an open-market economy, and allowing foreign investment. Travel restrictions were lifted in 1989, allowing individual travelers to enter without government supervisions. In 1994, the U.S. lifted the 19-year-old trade embargo, which had restricted American companies from doing busines with Vietnam.
Xin Tra No Nguoi (Please Return the People's Debt)
VN 42 Music 1994 Documentary 47 min
VHS/NTSC Excellent: professional filming Hang Phim Tre (Youth Film Co.)
Echols Collection Vietnamese
Trinh Cong Son & various contemporary popular singers
Selection of songs by Trinh Cong Son, a composer from Siagon, performed by
various popular singers. Trinh Con Son is a controversial figure in the music
scene: his songs are mostly anti-war or romantic, sad/melancholic. Very popular
among the younger generation.
Zu An Bang Quy Phi (2 Episodes)
VN 19 Music Performance 179 min
VHS/NTSC Nghe Si Ty Nan,
Paris Original Music, RD 1, Box 190, Lasher Rd, Tivoli, NY 12583
Dir/prod: Thiu Phuoc Sino-Vietnamese
Phuong Thanh, Kieu Le Mai & Huu Phuoc
Performance of a form of Vietnamese opera based on Chinese theatre called Cai
Luong.