Synopsis:

SCREENING OF THE TUNNELS: THE SUN IN THE SHADOW & TALK WITH DIRECTOR BÙI THẠC CHUYÊN
16:00 – 04 October 2025
White Light Cinéhub – COMPLEX 01, 29/31/167 Tây Sơn, Hanoi
Audience members register in advance at: (short link provided)
The screening is educational and non-profit. Viewers are invited to contribute 80,000 VND per person. All proceeds will be used for event organization and to support young filmmakers.
After the screening, the audience will have a special opportunity to meet and talk with director Bùi Thạc Chuyên.
Part of Bùi Thạc Chuyên Film Month.

In 1967, as the Vietnam War grew increasingly fierce, a 21-member guerrilla unit led by Bảy Theo at the Bình An Đông base became the U.S. Army’s top “search and destroy” target after receiving a mission to protect a newly arrived strategic intelligence team. Radio communications with the intelligence group were detected and pinpointed by U.S. forces, stripping the guerrillas of their only advantage: invisibility within the vast, complex, and mysterious tunnel network.
The film interweaves stories of camaraderie, love, and the longing to live of the soldiers — but above all, it honors their spirit of sacrifice for the Fatherland.
The film is not suitable for viewers under 16.

THE TUNNELS: THE SUN IN THE SHADOW
Feature film, 2025, 126’
Director: Bùi Thạc Chuyên
Screenwriter: Bùi Thạc Chuyên
Cinematography: Nguyễn K’Linh
Editors: Julie Beziau, Thân Thị Thu Hằng
Music: Clovis Schneider
Main cast: Thái Hòa, Quang Tuấn, Hồ Thu Anh, Diễm Hằng Lamoon, Hoàng Minh Triết, Anh Tú Wilson
ABOUT DIRECTOR BÙI THẠC CHUYÊN
Born in 1968, Bùi Thạc Chuyên studied Stage Acting, Theatre, and Film Directing at the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema. After early success with short films such as Eternal Sadness (Gold Prize – Vietnam Short Film Festival 1991) and The Night Cyclo Ride (Third Prize – Cinéfondation, Cannes Film Festival 2001), he was funded by Japan’s NHK to make the documentary Digger of the Earth in 2002 and the feature debut Living in Fear in 2005.
His works have been recognized by domestic and international critics. Notably, Adrift won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2009, and Glorious Ashes won the Golden Balloon – Grand Prize at the Three Continents Festival (France) in 2022.
Bùi Thạc Chuyên is also known as the founder and long-time leader of TPD Centre (since 2002) — Vietnam’s first professional nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing young filmmaking talent through training programs, film grants, creative mentoring, and initiatives to build a community of young filmmakers and cinephiles.

BÙI THẠC CHUYÊN FILM MONTH is organized by the TPD Centre for Young Filmmakers and White Light Cinéhub, with the support of Tunnel Films, Cinepost Hanoi, and COMPLEX 01. The program showcases notable works from the director’s career of over two decades, along with conversations about the craft of filmmaking.