October 24, 2004
FILM SCREENING AND PANEL
DISCUSSION
with Special Guest,
Director/Screenwriter
Dang
Nhat Minh*
and panelists Charles Musser
(Chair Yale Film
Studies),
Megan Sinnott
(Visiting
Lecturer, Larry
Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies, Women's
Gender Studies)
and Vy
Vu
(Co-Director, Yale Vietnamese
Student Association -ViSA)
Sponsored by the Council
on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University
Bao Gio Cho Den
Thang Muoi
(When the Tenth Month
Comes)
Considered
one of
Dang Nhat Minh's masterpieces,
this slightly subdued
melodrama revolves around a woman and her son in a Vietnamese
village.
The title refers to the month in which the Day of Forgiveness occurs; a
time when it is said that departed souls may visit loved ones still
living.
Traveling to town to discover why her husband has not returned from the
war, the protagonist Duyen learns that he has been killed in the line
of
duty. Unable to break the news to her family, she convinces the
local
schoolteacher to forge letters from her departed husband.
Complications
arise as the schoolteacher develops feelings for her. When her
son
runs away, the soldiers who pick him up reveal Duyan's secret to
him.
With the air cleared. the family is free to move on with
life.
1984, Vietnam - 95 Minutes. Directed by Dang Nhat Minh.
In Vietnamese with English subtitles
*Dang
Nhat Minh, one of Vietnam's
most important filmmakers, was born in
1938 in the old capital of Hue, and began making documentaries around
1965.
He is the first Vietnamese to be awarded the Nikkei Asia Prize
(in
1999), prestigious in Japan and the world. He has won three
Gold Lotus, four Silver Lotus and many individual prizes at national
film
festivals. In 2001, he was invited by Phillip Noyce to join him
as
a second director in The Quiet American. Dang Nhat Minh has made
nearly 20 films, both documentary and fiction. He is the former
General
Secretary of the Vietnam Cinema Association.
"For Dang Nhat Minh's filmmaking, the starting point is to capture
the lives
of ordinary people. Many of the works revolve
around
a wartime tragedy or love story, bringing into sharp focus the
contradictions
and problems in society from the perspective of the poor and
underprivileged.
The movies by Minh do not espouse the propaganda often found in the art
of socialist countries. Rather, they display a warmth for ordinary
people
and an awareness and understanding of their problems. His films enjoy
an
international reputation for high artistic quality and keen social
observation."
-Takeshi Kaneyoshi, Nikkei-Net Interactive.
For additional information on Dang
Nhat Minh,
click
links below:
"Filmmaker
Gives Voice..." -NikkeiNet Interactive
"Season
of Guavas," FilmFestivals.com
Sunday,
October 24, 2004
7:30 P.M.
Luce
Hall Auditorium
34 Hillhouse Avenue, New
Haven,
CT
contact seas@yale.edu
for
information
or call 203-432-3431