Home Event Listings 12th European – Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival

12th European – Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival

Posted on 03/06/2022

03 – 12/06/2022
National Documentary and Scientific Film Studio
465 Hoang Hoa Tham, Ba Dinh, Hanoi

From the organzier:

Come back after one year of Covid-19, EUNIC (EU National Institutes for Culture) and the National Documentary and Scientific Film Studio have been successfully engaging audiences with fascinating documentary films of Hanoi for over ten years.

The 12th European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival brings together documentaries from 10 countries: Austria, Belgium (Wallonia-Brussels), France, Italy, Germany, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, UK and from Vietnam, as the host country.

During 10 days, from 03 to 12 June 2022, audience of Hanoi will have opportunity to watch a rich program of documentaries, with many of them have been awarded with prestigious prizes. This year’s selection covers a great diversity of themes: such as life of people leaving their countryside to climate change, from personal evolution due to social evolution, racism, or famous artists…

The Wallonia-Brussels Delegation in Vietnam, as one of the founding members of EUNIC Vietnam, is happy to assume, once again, the role of the Festival’s Coordinator.

Viewers’ expectations of a documentary film differ from those of a feature film. A fictional film follows a thoughtout narrative; a documentary rather lives from the aura and authenticity of the protagonists, from the various situations, settings and encounters that occur during the filmmaking itself and from a successful combination of all this with the effect of raising our interest in the subject matter.

The greatest plus of documentaries is their basis in research and their journalistic ethos. They look at social changes and what it means for the individual. This time we are carried to the mountains of Austria and witness the transformation of idyllic villages. In the neighbouring Czech Republic we meet a miner who has embarked on a re-education program to become an IT-technician. From Belgium (Wallonia-Brussels), Israel and the UK films cover the big issues of climate change, homelessness, drug addiction and xenophobia. They remind us of the precariousness of life and our responsibility for a healthy and inclusive development of our societies. Some topics in this festival have their analogies with developments in Vietnam, like the French story about the many young people who embark on nursing education and who prepare for the praiseworthy profession of taking care of sick or old people. And always we ask ourselves, like the Swiss Nobel Prize winner Jacques Dubochet or the climate activist Greta Thunberg, how can we lead a responsible life style, contribute to healthy communities and to sustainable development?

Two films are devoted to musicians who gained international fame. The Spanish story about Enrique Morente and the rock band Lagartija Nick who produced the flamenco-rock album Omega in 1996. From Germany a portrait of the composer Helmut Lachenmann who became famous for his Musique Concrète Instrumentale and has been internationally influential during the last 50 years.

All the films were nominated for awards or received awards and prizes at prestigious film festivals like the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, the Locarno International Film Festival, or Dock of the Bay in San Sebastián, the Festival Diagonales at Angers, or the Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo 2021.

Thank you to the diplomatic representations of Austria, Belgium (Wallonia-Brussels), the Czech Republic, Israel, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and to the British Council, Institut Français and Goethe-Institut for providing an excellent choice of documentary films from Europe. Thank you to the National Documentary Film Studio for hosting the festival and a special thank you to the Wallonia-Brussels Delegation for coordinating the event.

Movie list:

07 pm, 03 June: Reviving Lands
Đỗ Huyền Trang, 2019, 32′