HCM CITY — Movie star, director and producer Ngô Thanh Vân’s latest action thriller, Hai Phượng (officially called “Furie” in other markets), is on sale at the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival 2018, which opened today.

The film is being distributed worldwide by leading international sales company Arclight Films, which also has the rights for a sci-fi thriller by director John Murlowski.

Hai Phượng is directed by Lê Văn Kiệt of HCM City. It stars Vân, known as Veronica Ngo, who was recently seen in the blockbuster Star Wars: The Last Jedi as Tico’s sister, Paige, and Netflix’s original feature film Bright starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton.

Vân plays Hai Phượng, a gangster who retired from a life of crime after the birth of her daughter.

She is not able to escape her violent past after her daughter is kidnapped. She is forced back into the underworld which she wants to leave behind to rescue her daughter from an infamous organ-trafficking ring.

Hai Phượng includes action scenes by acclaimed action director Kefi Abrikh, who worked for the Hollywood hits Jacson Bourne and Lucy.

The film’s producer Vân hopes that Hai Phượng will have a chance in the international marketplace in Cannes 2018. 

Career

Vân began her catwalk and singing career in 2000 after returning home from Norway.

In 2005, she began acting by first playing a leading role in Rouge, a 13-part TV series by renowned Singaporean director Jonathan Foo, in 2004. She was selected from 400 candidates from Asian countries.

Rouge was broadcast on MTV Asia, a cable television channel broadcasting international music. It opened a door for her to become a movie star in the region. 

In 2006, she played a leading role in Dòng Máu Anh Hùng (The Rebel), a kung fu film directed by Vietnamese-American Charlie Nguyễn.

The film won the Grand Jury Award at 2007 Sharing Visions, a biennial international film festival for Vietnamese filmmakers held in Los Angeles.

In 2015, she developed her career as a movie producer in the comedy Ngày Nảy  Ngày Nay (Once Upon A Time), a co-production between Vân and her partner, Canadian-Vietnamese director Cường Ngô.

In 2016, Vân directed her first film, Tấm Cám- Chuyện Chưa Kể (Tấm Cám- The Untold Story), a fantasy work based on a fairy tale best know as the Vietnamese version of Cinderella.

The film was released in 37 cinema complexes nationwide and earned more than VNĐ70 billion ($3.1 million) in ticket sales.

Last year, her romantic comedy, Cô Ba Sài Gòn (The Tailor), was screened and honoured at the 22^nd Busan International Film Festival in Busan, Korea.

The work is about Vietnamese women living in Sài Gòn (now HCM City) in the 1960s.

Producer Vân used young directors Lộc Trần and Kay Nguyễn, who both studied film in the US.

The film’s leading character, young actress Ninh Dương Lan Ngọc of HCM City, was named Face of Asia at in the category Asia Star Awards 2017.

Vân and her studio, VAA, recently launched a new film project on Vietnamese myths and folk stories.

The project, Thần Đồng Đất Việt (Vietnamese Prodigies), will use a comic series based on Vietnamese folk stories by young artists of Phan Thị Company. 

The project’s first film is expected to start in December.

“I will bring all I’ve learned in Hollywood to develop my career at home,” said 40-year-old Vân. — VNS