Người Lắng Nghe: Lời Thì Thầm (Listeners: The Whispering) has won three awards at the Asia Film Art International Film Festival (AFAIFF) 2021. Photo courtesy of producer

HÀ NỘi — The Vietnamese criminal psychological thriller Người Lắng Nghe: Lời Thì Thầm (Listeners: The Whispering) has won three awards at the Asia Film Art International Film Festival (AFAIFF) 2021.

The movie tells the story of a psychologist, Tường Minh who provides psychotherapy to An Nhiên, a young female writer who suffers from an anxiety disorder.

During the course of the festival, the title of Best Actress went to Oanh Kiều who plays the role of writer An Nhiên.

Quang Sự, who plays psychologist Tường Minh, received the Special Mention Actor award.

Listeners-The Whispering was also given the Special Mention Feature Film award.

The movie was directed by Khoa Nguyễn and filming had initially started back in July, 2020. It was originally planned to debut in March of this year, but was postponed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has so far not been screened in any Vietnamese cinemas.

The film revolves around An Nhiên - a writer obsessed with the figure of a girl named Lê Vân - who is also the main character in his novel.

This is also the first movie starring Oanh Kiều and also the film that marks Quang Sự's return to cinema after many years of absence.

The two actors said they all felt happy during the pandemic when hearing the news that their roles have received high praise from AFAIFF.

The third version of the AFAIFF was jointly organised by the Hong Kong Film Arts Association (HKFAA) and the Macau Film Arts Association (MFAA) with the aim of honouring new talent in the film industry.

This year’s awards ceremony has been divided into two categories, including short films and feature films, with the prizes going to Trust Frank of Australia and For Hope’s Flickering Star of China, respectively. — VNS