Phim "Cánh Đồng Bất Tận" chiếu tại Mỹ

Synopsis:

Set in the exquisitely beautiful Mekong Delta of Vietnam, the film tells the story of Mr. Vo and his daughter Nuong and his son Dien. Vo, a man wounded by his wife’s infidelity, has burned down his house and all his memories of the past. He has restarted his life with his two children, living a nomadic existence on a boat among the labyrinthine canals of the Mekong. He is an exile not because of the war- now only a distant memory in Vietnam-but from the modern life and materialism that he sees as the cause of his wife’s giving in to the temptations of self-indulgence.

Twisted and made bitter by her betrayal, Vo takes revenge by using his attractive looks to cruelly abuse all women who fall in love with him, and at times even the daughter who looks more and more like her mother as she grows up. Vo becomes a man who cannot see love, while his son and daughter become emotionally twisted, inheriting their father’s hatred, distrust and coldness. It is only when the children rescue Suong, a prostitute, from being beaten by a mob of outraged women and, in spite of their father, take her into their life and form a surrogate family around her, that Suong’s physical and spiritual healing allows the children-and perhaps their father-to have their own healing, and their own reconciliation with love.

Based on Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tu’s best selling short story "Canh Dong Bat Tan" (Boundless Rice Field), winner of the best short story prize from the Vietnam Writer’s Association in 2007 and more recently of the ASEAN Literature Award, “Floating Lives” will draw audiences into the colorful daily life of unsophisticated peasants who scratch out a living in the beautiful but unforgiving landscape of the immense, mysterious and prescient Mekong Delta, into the lives of characters whose strength, flaws, and beauty, portrayed as they search for the sustenance of life and love, tear at one’s heart.

English subtitles

The schedule of program is as follows:

A discussion with director Mr. Quang Binh and actress Hai Yen will follow each screening.

7.00 – 9.00pm, Wednesday April 6th, 2011.
Letelier Theater. 3251 Prospect Street, NW Upper Courtyard.
Washington D.C.
Admission: $15
Contact: IVCE, (860)478-0518

7.30 – 9.30pm, Thursday April 7th, 2011.
David Rittenhouse Laboratory Room A7. 209 South 33rd Street.
University of Pennsylvania.
Admission: free
Contact: Quan (quanp@sas.upenn.edu) and Duong (vsa.drexel@gmail.com)

7.30 – 9.30pm, Friday April 8th, 2011.
Mathey-Rocky Theater
Princeton University
Admission: free
contact: Ryan, huynh@princeton.edu

7.00 – 9.00pm. Saturday April 9th, 2009.
Room 200. Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street & 5th Ave, NYC.
New York University
Admission: $15
Contact: IVCE, (860)478-0518

7.30 – 9.30pm. Monday April 11, 2011.
Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium, 53 Wall Street.
Yale University
Admission: free
Contact: Quang, quang.van@yale.edu

7.30 – 9.30pm, Wednesday April 13th, 2011.
Rm 106, Smith-Buonanno, Pembroke Campus.
Brown University
Admission: free
Contact: Cherilyn, cherilyn_tran@brown.edu

7.30 - 9.30pm. Thursday April 14th, 2011.
Rm 35-225, Building 35 (Mass Ave & Vassar St)
MIT
Admission: $10 for general, $5 for student
contact: Quyen, nhuynh@MIT.EDU

3.00 - 4.45pm. Sunday April 17th, 2011.
Humanites Instructional Building 100
University of California, Irvine
Admission: free
contact: Ysa, ysadle@yahoo.com
www.VietFilmFest.com