Film Screening and Discussion: Flow, My Film: Inspiring Cinema from the Works of Nguyen Huy Thiep

[FILM WEEK ADAPTED FROM NGUYEN HUY THIEP'S STORIES]

Nguyen Huy Thiep is one of the most outstanding writers of modern Vietnamese literature. Throughout his career, the writer has always been obsessed with what he himself calls "finding the Way, finding the meaning of life, finding enlightenment"; considering it the inevitable mission of the literary profession. Perhaps that is why the characters in Nguyen Huy Thiep's stories are also constantly searching for something beyond the reality they are living in, vague but with a strong haunting power. These are people who live their whole lives like a craftsman absorbed in "panning for gold", a gold that has no specific shape, but just thinking about it helps life become meaningful. Nguyen Huy Thiep's journey does not stop at each work, or in the literary field alone. That search also creates endless inspiration for many filmmakers and urges them to use the language of cinema to ponder those issues.

In memory of writer Nguyen Huy Thiep, the Faculty of Literature and the Cinema Club organize a Film Week adapted from Nguyen Huy Thiep's stories with a discussion: "Flow, My Film: Unleashing the Cinematic Stream from Nguyen Huy Thiep's Works". The Film Week will select 3 films to screen: "The Rippers", "Mother's Soul" and "Missing the Countryside" to look back at the very special "touches" of Nguyen Huy Thiep's short stories with cinema and express gratitude for his contributions to Vietnamese literature.

The three films are set in different contexts: a place where the mountains and forests are screaming at the attack of humans, a place in the countryside during the transition period of society, and a crowded, shabby Hanoi, oppressed by the crazy cycle of making a living. Against this background, the main characters appear in a small form but always full of inner strength. They are laborers who work diligently, live diligently, face difficulties diligently, and also dream diligently about the good values ​​of life. Therefore, characters like Ngoc in "The Sawmills", like little Thu in "Mother's Soul", like Nham in "Missing the Countryside" are like small branches of a river, which will later merge into a common flow of Nguyen Huy Thiep's thoughts. And that river will flow forever, like the writer's dreams about an angel that will remain for a long time in the hearts of readers.