Synopsis:

DOCUMENTARY FILMS BY BÙI THẠC CHUYÊN — Xẩm + Tay đào đất + Không sợ hãi
19:00 — 03 & 12 October 2025
White Light Cinéhub – COMPLEX 01, 29/31/167 Tây Sơn, Hà Nội

Audience members register in advance at: https://bit.ly/PTL-BTC
The screening is educational and non-profit. Viewers are encouraged to contribute 80,000 VND per person. All proceeds will go toward organizing expenses and supporting young filmmakers.
Part of the Bùi Thạc Chuyên Film Month.

Three documentary films, shot across three different decades, portray Vietnamese society through changing eras and geographies: from the Red River Delta on the cusp of the 21st century, to the war-scarred Central region in the early 2000s, and Saigon in the midst of the pandemic. The filmmaking approach also evolves: narration gradually gives way to the direct voices of the characters, and to the presence of life unfolding before the camera.

Within Bùi Thạc Chuyên’s creative journey, documentary filmmaking is both a point of renewal and a persistent parallel path. Rooted in the director’s personal experiences, the documentary practice provides not only inspiration and material, but also a method: long field trips, living alongside characters, and discovering the story through immersion.

For one night only, revisit the documentary works of director Bùi Thạc Chuyên.

FILM LIST
XẨM (1998, 27’)

Writer & Director: Bùi Thạc Chuyên
Cinematography: Nguyễn Thước, Lê Hồng Chương, Hoàng Tấn Phát

The film “presents what remains of an ancient singing tradition—street singing—known as Xẩm,” as the director says in the film. Following music researcher Bùi Trọng Hiền, the crew sets out to trace the remnants of this art form and meets Hà Thị Cầu, the last surviving artist who still preserves this style.
Xẩm marked a turning point in Bùi Thạc Chuyên’s career after his early short films and success in 1990s television. The film won the B Prize for Documentary at the Vietnam Cinema Association Awards in 1998.

TAY ĐÀO ĐẤT (2002, 45’)

Writer & Director: Bùi Thạc Chuyên
Cinematography: Nguyễn Thước

Set in Vĩnh Hảo commune, Tuy Phong district, Bình Thuận province, the film tells the story of Ngô Đức Nhật, a farmer who spent over ten years painstakingly disarming mines and unexploded ordnance with rudimentary tools to reclaim land for cultivation. On territory once used as a U.S. military base, many have died from encountering mines; Nhật himself lost an eye after being struck by shrapnel.
Digger of the Earth directly inspired Bùi Thạc Chuyên’s first feature film, Living in Fear (2005). It received the Silver Kite Award (Documentary Video) in 2002.

KHÔNG SỢ HÃI (2022, 96’, 5 episodes — 2 episodes screened)

Writer, Director & Cinematography: Bùi Thạc Chuyên

Filmed at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, the documentary follows doctors, volunteers, and patients in Ho Chi Minh City and Bình Dương during Vietnam’s fourth wave in July 2021.
Together with the feature film Glorious Ashes, No Fear marks the director’s return after a decade-long absence. The film received the Silver Kite Award (Documentary) in 2021.
The screening will present two episodes from the series.

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.