NEW DELHI – A movie by director Đặng Nhật Minh entitled Thương Nhớ Đồng Quê (Nostalgia for the Countryside) was screened last night, kicking off the Việt Nam Film Festival in New Delhi.

Set in a small village in the north of Việt Nam, the movie is a tale of awakening and traces the love triangle between a 17-year-old boy, his lonely and naive sister-in-law with whom he works closely in the fields, and a stylish vivacious expatriate who has just returned from the city and is curious about life in the village where she spent her childhood.

The movie was made in early 1995 by Minh and commissioned by NHK television as part of celebrations to mark the 100th birthday of cinema. It was one of the five films to be screened at the First Asian Film Festival in the same year in Tokyo. The other films were from India, Thailand, Mongolia and Iran.

Minh’s two other movies titled Bao Giờ Cho Đến Tháng Mười (When the Tenth Month Comes) and Đừng Đốt (Don’t Burn) are also being shown at the festival.

When the Tenth Month Comes is a psychological drama that debuted in 1984. It is considered one of the best movies on Vietnamese people and their cultural identity.

The movie was among CNN’s 18 best Asian films of all time in 2008.

The movie Don’t Burn is based on the popular Đặng Thùy Trâm Diary. It won the Audience Award at Japan’s Fukuoka Film Festival in 2009, besides the many other awards in Việt Nam.

The New Delhi festival is also screening other Vietnamese movies -- Con Chim Vành Khuyên (Passerine Bird) by Nguyễn Văn Thông, Em Bé Hà Nội (Little Girl of Hà Nội) by Hải Ninh and Những Đứa Con Của Làng (Children of the Village) by Nguyễn Đức Việt, as well as Nhà Tiên Tri (The Prophet) by Vương Đức, Chuyện Của Pao (Pao’s Story) by Quang Hải and Hoa Vàng Trên Cỏ Xanh (Yellow Flowers on The Green Grass) by Victor Vũ.

The event has been organised by the Vietnamese embassy and the Culture Ministry in co-ordination with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the India International Centre (IIC).

The film festival will help Indians discover more about Vietnamese people and their country, ICCR director Shri C.Rajasekhar said.

Rajasekhar also highly appreciated the efficient manner in which the Vietnamese film festival was organised in India and said Việt Nam is very special to Indians.

The film festival will run until May 23. – VNS