Vietnamese director's debut film nominated in Venice

The debut feature from Duong Dieu Linh, will compete in the "Best Debut Film" category and feature at the International Critics’ Week section of the 81st Venice Film Festival, running from August 28 to September 17.

Don't Cry Butterfly is a collaborative production between companies in Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Linh serves as both the director and screenwriter for the film.

The movie, set in Hanoi, follows a middle-aged woman who turns to an online sorcerer in hopes of changing her unfaithful husband’s mind, only to accidentally awaken a mysterious supernatural force in her own home.

Speaking to vnexpress.net, Linh said, "Don't Cry Butterfly is my effort to break away from the image of women as sad and powerless. I want to show that they are lively and humorous."

The movie will compete for the best debut feature award alongside six other projects from Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria, and Egypt.

In the introduction on the festival's website, Beatrice Fiorentino, artistic director of the International Critics’ Week, described the selected films as “substantiating the bewilderment that we as humans share at every latitude of the planet”.

A decade ago, at the 71st Venice Film Festival, Vietnam also featured a film in this category with "Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere" by director Nguyen Hoang Diep.

The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film event in Europe, first organised in 1932. International Critics’ Week, established in 1984, is a parallel event of the festival, showcasing seven debut films competing for awards.

Vietnamese cinema has gained other international recognition over the past year, with director Pham Ngoc Lan's Culi Never Cries winning the Best First Feature Award at the Berlin International Film Festival 2024.

Last year, Vietnamese director Pham Thien An became the first Vietnamese filmmaker to win the prestigious Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his debut film, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.

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