The CinEscape screening series continues its journey with a presentation of three short documentary films by Varan Vietnam trainees.

Three Films, Three Worlds

Flowing with the current (32 mins), directed and filmed by Nguyễn Ngọc Thảo Ly, takes viewers to Cồn Sơn, where farmers living along the Hậu River are collectively building a community tourism project on their own land. Each person contributes their share of effort, in a spirit of learning by doing, with many hopes for the future. Yet from the very beginning, they must continually fight to maintain autonomy over this deeply personal endeavor. The film was edited by Swann Dubus, with sound by members of Varan’s 2020 cohort.

Winter is coming (34 mins), directed and filmed by Lê Thị Thắm, quietly steps inside a care center in Ba Vì, Hanoi, where patients dream of ordinary life and long for the warmth of family. Through iron-barred windows, messages still find their way outward, waiting to be heard. The film was edited by Swann Dubus, with sound by Nguyễn Thiên Ân, Trần Thị Phương Thảo, Nguyễn Thị Ánh, Dương Trịnh Hà Đăng, and Cầm Đức Hiệp.

Thiên ân (45 mins), directed and filmed by Dương Trịnh Hà Đăng, draws a portrait of Bác Phương, a man whose world is separated from the outside by cardboard boxes. Within that cramped space, he eats, sleeps, reads, writes poetry, keeps a diary, sketches circuit boards, and repairs electronics. His greatest hardship is the absence of electricity, which prevents him from soldering his beloved circuit boards and carrying out the mission he has set for himself. Then one day, sudden as a grace from above, he is invited to move into a charity home, a place that holds everything he needs for the change he has long been waiting for. The film was edited by Phạm Đức Thắng and Aurélie Ricard, with sound by Nguyễn Văn Thanh, Trần Thị Phương Thảo, Nguyễn Thị Ánh, Cầm Đức Hiệp, and Nguyễn Thiên Ân.

What the three films share is not theme or geography, but approach: patient, close, and unimposing. The people on screen are neither staged nor embellished. They are simply seen, and sometimes, being seen is enough.

CinEscape remains a space where films like these can find the audience they deserve.