Film director Đỗ Thị Hiền (first from left) and hearing impaired cameraman Phạm Văn Thức (centre) are watching a scene in Chuyện Bạn Tay. Photo courtesy of Filmmaking For Deaf People Project

HÀ NỘI (VNS) – First short films made by people with disabilities in Việt Nam were shown at Công Nhân Theatre on April 2.

The films include documentaries and motion pictures, which were made by people with hearing impairment.

The ten documentaries and two films are the result of the Filmmaking Project for Deaf People. The project was launched by filmmaker Đỗ Thị Hiền, a new graduate, and her friend.

The four-month project was implemented from December, 2015, to March 2016.

In the first two months of the project, 12 selected hearing impaired people were trained in filmmaking. Then they produced their own films in the following two months.

“I think cinema is a good way to help the people with hearing impairment express themselves,” Hiền said.

She also can communicate in the deaf people’s sign language.

 “All people in the project have difficult situations, but they share a love of filmmaking. After four months, they write scripts and shoot films by themselves,” Hiền said.

The filmmakers made 10 individual documentaries and worked in two groups, shooting two films entitled Tạp Dề Vàng (Golden Apron) by Nguyễn Hồng Cảnh and Chuyện Bạn Tay (Friends from Hands) by Nguyễn Thái Thành.

“It is the first time I came to know about filmmaking,” Nguyễn Hồng Cảnh said, communicating in sign language.

“The most difficult thing for me as a film director is to arrange suitable times for all actors because they don’t have much free time. I had to shoot a scene several times to show the characters’ emotions.”

The other documentaries are Con Đường Rộng Mở (Broad Way); Viên Gạch Yêu Thương (Brick of Love) and Cô Gái Có Ước Mơ Múa (A Girl Dreams of Dancing).

 “Short documentaries are personal stories of filmmakers. Con Đường Rộng Mở by Nguyễn Ngọc Anh has an interesting viewpoint,” Hiền said. “It is a moving film about a translator who communicates between deaf people and people with normal hearing.”

The Filmmaking Project for Deaf People was selected along with four others from Việt Nam by the South Korean Lotte Window, under the theme of Peace and Development through Art and Culture by the United Nations-Habitat. -- VNS