Trần Vũ

Nam Dinh, Vietnam

People's Artist Trần Vũ (b. Nguyễn Phú, Nam Định province, 10 November 1925 - 16 February 2010) was a Vietnamese film director and screenwriter. In 1959, when he was already 34 years old, he attended the first directing class of the Vietnam Film School, under the guide of several Soviet filmmakers. Trần Vũ's first film, also his thesis for graduation, was "The Passerine Bird" (Con chim vành khuyên, 1962), which won the Golden Lotus Award at the 2nd Vietnam Film Festival and the Special Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Trần Vũ's other notable work between 1954 and 1970 was "Floating Village" (Làng nổi, 1964), which he co-directed by People's Artist Huy Thành. In 1971, his film "The Story of Lực and His Wife" (Vợ chồng anh Lực) is considered the first Vietnamese film that successfully captured human life after the first Indochina war, winning the director the award for Best Director at the Vietnam Film Festival in 1973. In 1974, he began his collaboration with screenwriter Bành Bảo with the film "We'll Be Seeing Us Again" (Đến hẹn lại lên). After 1975, Trần Vũ took part in writing and co-directing for People's Artist Trần Phương's psychological drama "The Stormy Ride" (Chuyến xe bão táp, 1976) and its sequel "People Met" (Những người đã gặp, 1979). These two films were critically acclaimed and considered to represent the best of postwar cinema, reflecting on the lives of readjusting soldiers. During the Đổi Mới era (1986-), Trần Vũ made "Brothers" (Anh và em, 1988); "O Money!" (Tiền ơi!, 1989); "The Teardrop Pearl of Ha Long" (Giọt lệ Hạ Long, 1994); etc. The latter was a coproduction of Vietnam and Hong Kong, and later became the first Vietnamese film to be shown in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival (1995).