Poster for the casting event.

HCM CITY —  Film director Phan Gia Nhật Linh has begun casting for his movie on the late famous songwriter Trịnh Công Sơn called Em và Trịnh (You and Trịnh).

Men and women aged between 17 and 40 have been encouraged to attend.

Candidates for the character of Sơn should have an accent from Huế, the city where Sơn was born.  

Em và Trịnh is about the love story of Sơn, a talented songwriter from Sài Gòn in the 1970s and 1980s, and a Japanese fan, Yoshii Michiko, during Son's time in Paris.     

Yoshii later travels to Việt Nam many times to discover Sơn and his music.

The couple decides to wed. They face cultural differences and then cancel the wedding at the last minute. 

Stories and events related to Sơn’s music are also featured.

Director Linh said he was interested in working on Sơn’s life and career.

Late songwriter Trịnh Công Sơn's career and love life are featured in Em và Trịnh (You and Trịnh), a film by blockbuster director Phan Gia Nhật Linh.  Photo courtesy of the producer

“With a budget of VNĐ20 billion (US$860,000), we hope the film will meet the high demands of Sơn’s Vietnamese and foreign fans, who have kept the artist’s music alive,” said Linh. 

Born in the former royal city of Huế in 1939, Sơn became popular in 1957 with his first song, Ướt Mi (Crying Eyes).

His lasting legacy includes albums of romantic love songs, such as Diễm Xưa ( Diễm, My Cherished Memory), Ru Tình (Lullaby To Love), Tự Tình Khúc (My Lyric Songs), which were released in the 1960s and 70s.  These songs are still loved by legions of Vietnamese and foreign fans.

One of his most popular love songs, Diễm Xưa, is well-known in Japan, where it was introduced through singer Khánh Ly, who now lives in the US. She has been recognised as the singer who was born to perform Sơn’s songs.

Ly performed Diễm Xưa in Osaka in 1970. Later, the song was written in Japanese, Utsukushii Mukashi, and was listed among Japan’s top 10 favourite love songs.

Sơn went on to become southern Việt Nam’s most famous songwriter and author of several anti-war music collections including Ca Khúc Da Vàng (Yellow Skin Song), Kinh Việt Nam (Vietnamese Prayer) and Ta Phải Thấy Mặt Trời (We Must See The Sunlight).

These albums were popular among students and young people in Sài Gòn (now Hồ Chí Minh City) in the 1960s and 1970s as the Vietnamese people fought to liberate the country from the American imperialists.

After 1975 Sơn continued to write songs and enjoyed great success with both his lyrics and melodies. He died in HCM City in 2001 after a prolonged illness.

“Director Linh is talented. I hope he will break the box office with Em và Trịnh,” said the film’s producer Nguyễn Quang Dũng.  

Filming is expected to begin in May, and will be in cinemas next year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the musician’s death. VNS