HÀ NỘI — French director Oliver Lorelle’s Ciel Rouge (Red Sky), which is set in Việt Nam during the early years of the Indochina War and shot entirely in the country’s northern mountainous areas, will premiere in Hà Nội on Wednesday and in HCM City on Thursday.

The film will be officially shown to the public in French cinemas from July 19 and in October in Vietnamese cinemas.

Set in Indochina in 1946, the film tells the story of a French soldier committed to pacifying an unknown country made up of dense forests and spectacular mountains. His ideals collapse when he is forced to torture and kill a young Vietnamese woman, who is fighting for national independence.

In order to escape his orders, he decides to flee with her on an unpredictable journey to the heart of the jungle. Crossing the forests and hiding in breath-taking natural surroundings, the two unlikely partners distance themselves from the world and the war. Left to their own devices, they discover who they really are.

Ciel Rouge’s filming locations include Ba Bể Lake in Bắc Kạn province and the spectacular mountains of Hà Giang.

When asked why he made a film about Indochina, Lorelle--who has won the César prize--said that he wanted to tell an impossible love story set in the war.

“The film is about a soldier who is fascinated by the courage of his enemy and ran way with her. I need a battle, between two people from two cultures which are totally different…Since the beginning, I need a war, not at the battlefield, but a place where the soldier gets lost in a country which is swallowing him…The jungle attracted me and made me choose this war as the film background,” he said.

This is the fourth film made by a French director to be entirely shot in Viêt Nam, following The Lover, Điện Biên Phủ and Indochina--which were presented to the public twenty years ago and won international acclaim, contributing largely to promote Vietnamese tourism to the world. 

The film crew, including director Oliver Lorelle, main actress Audre Giacomini and well-known Vietnamese actress Nguyễn Thị Chiều Xuân, will hold a talk with the audience in Hà Nội on Wednesday (June 28) at the French Cultural Centre, L’Espace, at 24 Tràng Tiền Street, and on Thursday at IDECAF (Institute of Culture Exchange with France)  located at 31 Thái Văn Lung Street, District 1.

French actress Audrey Giacomini , born in 1986 has Vietnamese origin on her maternal grandfather side who was half-Vietnamese and half-Breton. She is best known for playing Jeanne in her teenage years in Mr. Nobody (2009).

 Olivier Lorelle won the Cesar Award (the highest film honor in France) for Best Original Screenplay in 2007 for Days of Glory. The scenario for the film Hors la loi (Outside the Law) that the wrote for the director  Rachid Bouchareb was nominated Oscars in 2010.  —VNS