Nguyễn Khánh Dư
Directing
Biography
Nguyễn Khánh Dư (September 2, 1933 – December 3, 2007) was a Vietnamese director and cinematographer. A war photographer for an information bureau during the 1st Indochina War, he began working as a documentary cinematographer in 1955. In 1959, he joined Vietnam Feature Film Studio and had his first feature film credit in Phạm Văn Khoa’s “Vườn cam”[Orange Garden] (1960). Despite lacking in professional training, Khánh Dư was widely regarded as one of the most influential cinematographers in early Vietnamese cinema. He worked on films such as "Chị Tư Hậu" [Mrs. Tu Hau] (1962) and "Biển lửa" [Sea of Fire] (1965) by Phạm Kỳ Nam, and won Best Cinematography at the 4th Vietnam Film Festival for his work in the feature film "Hai người mẹ" [Two Mothers] (1975) as well as the documentary "Thành phố lúc rạng đông" [The City at Sunrise] (1975). He began directing in 1976. His best known film is perhaps "Mẹ vắng nhà" [While Mother is Away] (1980), and many of his films focus on children as their subject.
Known For
Tư Hậu is a common woman from a fishing village whose husband has gone away to fight in the revolution. She takes care of her young daughter as well as her aging father-in-law. Soon, her peaceful village is attacked.
Mrs. Tư Hậu
No description available.
Skylark in the City
Duong and Tho are two military intelligence officers tasked with investigating enemy positions. They arrive in a rural area and meet Kien, a guerrilla fighter. Kien's wife, who deeply loves her husband, fears that if he continues his activities, he will be targeted by terrorists, leading to the destruction of their family's happiness. For this reason, she tries to stop her husband and clashes with Tho.
An Early Autumn Day
No description available.
Station
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Birds Return
Old fisherman Dã Tràng and his wife lives in a coastal village. One day, a snake saved by Dã Tràng gifts him a magical pearl that allows him to hear animals speaking and easily travel into the kingdoms underneath the sea. But his wife has other plans with this pearl..
Dã Tràng Reclaims The East Sea
The main character in the film is a real person in history - the hero of the Vietnamese people's army, Cu Chinh Lan, set in the middle of the resistance war against the French (circa 1951) on the battlefield in North Vietnam.
The Young Soldier
Upon meeting a young Vietnamese soldier during his brief stay in the Lao mountains, a woman begins recalling to her daughter episodes of her life ever since she had to leave Northwest Vietnam in 1952, including her fateful encounter with a Lao mother.
Two Mothers
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The Kids
Vietnamese guerrillas move into a village adjoining a French/US airstrip and recruit locals to help them bring it down.
Sea Of Fire
The prestigious scholar Chu Van An resigns from his royal duties and returns to his small village, teaching children day by day. Among those who study with him is a strange boy with mysterious origins. One day, a prolonged drought happens, leading to a famine and the deaths of villagers.
My Student is a Water God
A documentary look into life in Saigon, very soon after April 30, 1975.
The City at Sunrise
No description available.
The Foster Child
Unable to bear the turbulent divorce of his parents, a young boy runs away and joins a gang of bandits.
Road Dust
A mother of five in the Mekong Delta leaves her ten year-old to look after the younger children while she goes to fight in the war.
While Mother Is Away
A platoon loses contact with their commanders and finds themselves stuck in the vast forests with no way out. Plagued by despair and the constant sightings of their fallen comrades, the soldiers begin to succumb to ill health and madness.
No Horizon To Be Seen
The story about a group of people struggling to expand agricultural land in North Vietnam.
The slope
While awaiting the return of her husband from the war, a woman is brutally raped and becomes pregnant. Inconsolable, she grows increasingly tormented.