Đặng Nhật Minh
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Đặng Nhật Minh (b.
Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...
,
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, 1938) is one of
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
's foremost film directors. He began making documentary films around 1965 and is the first Vietnamese person to be awarded the
Nikkei Asia Prize The Nikkei Asia Prize (Japanese: 日経アジア賞) is an award which recognizes the achievements of people and organizations that have improved the lives of people throughout Asia. The awards were created and presented by Nikkei Inc, one of the l ...
for Culture, in 1999. His films have won several prizes at international film festivals. He is the former General Secretary of the Vietnam Cinema Association.


Biography


Early life

Dang Nhat Minh was born in Hue,
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
in 1938. His father, Đặng Văn Ngữ, was a medical doctor whose research led him to work frequently abroad, such as in Japan from 1943-1950. Because of this Minh and his siblings were largely raised by his mother. In 1950, Minh was sent by the
Vietnamese Communist Party The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North ...
(VCP) to a Chinese military school. In his autobiography he describes this period of his education as filled with brainwashing and self censorship. After four years of schooling in China, the VCP sent him to study
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
in the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
so that he could become an interpreter. His entire education was decided for him ahead of time by the Communist Party. His first work within cinema was translating Russian films made in the USSR to Vietnamese. During this time, Minh also learnt more about the inner workings of cinema production, something credited to his mastery of Russian and his long exposure to Russian film. When his dad died during the
Vietnam war The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
1967 he was given party related career favours which combined with his auto-dictation allowed him to become a director. His first film was a documentary about
geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
.


Career


Inspiration/Influence

A strong influence on Minh’s work as a filmmaker was provided by his uncle Nguyễn Hồng Phong. In his autobiography, he mentions(p. 41-42):
“Through literature, poetry, metaphors, pop songs, the study of pictorial art, my uncle taught me to think in images, a quality indispensable for a filmmaker. To do one’s job well, a film director cannot be satisfied with simply mastering some techniques. What matters the most for this profession is one’s personal worldview and aesthetic. Without these, the director is just a skilful craftsman. Since the beginning of my career till this day, all that I have brought to cinema, I owe it to what my uncle taught me. He allowed me to forge my own vision of the world which gave birth to my creations.”
As part of a generation that lived through the difficult war situation, becoming a filmmaker and being able to make films is something out of the ordinary. Minh considers his being able to make films “a miracle” and largely credits it to luck. He also believes that it is with the support of his ancestors that has allowed him to make films.


Filmic works

Dang Nhat Minh started his career in film by making documentaries with topics ranging from geography, ethnography to
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
. Notable works during this time includes: Following the Geologists (Theo chân những người địa chất, 1965), Ha Bac My Hometown (Hà Bắc quê hương, 1967), May - Faces (Tháng 5 - Những gương mặt, 1975), Nguyen Trai (Nguyễn Trãi, 1980). As a
documentarist A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
, he became the government’s observer and reporter of historical events in Vietnam. For instance, in 1975 the government sent him as a representative to Saigon during the last days of the liberation, documenting the event in film. He started his feature film career by adapting existing plays, generating such works as Stars on the Sea (Những ngôi sao biển, 1977), A Year-end Rainy Day ( Ngày mưa cuối năm, 1980). Around 1980, he wrote a short story named "The Town Within Reach." It was published in the Văn Nghệ (''Literature and Arts'') magazine and won a prize, making him consider giving up on filmmaking to become a writer. However, not long after that, he met a scholar and close friend of his uncle Nguyen Hong Phong. This person encouraged him to make a film out of his own story. He made the film "The Town Within Reach" in 1983, marking the beginning of his filmography. In his autobiography, he notes: "So I determined my direction: I only make films that I myself write the script, talk about issues that interest me, move me. Having found a way to exist in the world of cinema, I don't think about giving up on it anymore." His works are dense with political arguments, in which the view in one film may conflict with that of the other. Usually placing a woman at the centre of the story, Dang Nhat Minh closely traced Vietnamese historical struggles through the Sino-Vietnamese War (The Town Within Reach - 1983), the post-war period ('' When The Tenth Month Comes'' - 1984, The Girl on the River - 1987), the Đổi Mới economic reforms (The Return - 1994), and came back to one of the darkest phases in the post-independence Vietnam - The 1950s land reform in North Vietnam (The Guava Season - 2000). Except for explicit propaganda movies such as Miss Nhung, Don't Burn, and Hanoi: Winter 1946, there is often one unifying theme that runs through most of his films: Betrayal. In his works, Minh wants to create portraits of the “symbols of Vietnam” and  to focus on “ordinary people”. He wants to let the world discover the life of these people in times of war as well as in times of peace after the reunification, filming bourgeois as well as
peasants A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
. He often centres his stories around women, whose memories and experiences in times of conflict are often forgotten. Minh occasionally focuses on historical figures, such as the scholar and politician
Nguyễn Trãi Nguyễn Trãi (阮廌), pen name Ức Trai (抑齋); (1380–1442) was an illustrious Vietnamese Confucian scholar, a noted poet, a skilled politician and a master strategist. He was at times attributed with being capable of almost miraculous o ...
, a film ordered by the department of cinema in 1980 or the president Hô Chi Minh in the political documentary Hanoi: Winter 1946. Apart from his film-making activities, Minh also had responsibilities as the elected General Secretary of the
Vietnam Film Association Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...
. According to his autobiography, he especially had difficulties in having sufficient political say and being heard by the government. He was the former General Secretary of the Vietnam Film Association for more than 10 years (1989-2000) where he constantly received a strong mandate through polling from members. However, he withdrew from his position as he disliked the change in politics of the association, stating that he was glad to leave and pleased to see that he had not lost himself over the years.


On the international stage

He received numerous international awards and was part of the jury of numerous festivals such as the Fukuoka festival and
Locarno festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...
. Some of his films have also been funded by foreign countries, including
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
and Japan, a proof of the filmmaker's fame. These opportunities have enabled him more freedom in writing his screenplay. In his autobiography however, Minh notes a contradiction between the internationally constructed vision of him as head of Vietnamese cinema and symbol of Doi Moi, and his controversial image in Vietnam.


Censorship

Dang Nhat Minh experienced
censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
in the production of all his films. Before shooting any film, he had to submit the screenplay to authorities to gain their approval. He must often cut out parts, modify the plot and characters, sometimes for obscure reasons. Some of his scripts were even rejected without any reason. In his autobiography, Dang Nhat Minh talks about how censorship is a real barrier to the conditions of film production. After having one of his first films banned from shooting, he asked the artistic director of the film studio about the definition of a socialist screenplay. The answer was that "the ending must be happy," and it must sing praises of harmony and
socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
. Since all his films were funded by the government (except for "Nostalgia for the Countryside," which was his first film to be allowed to choose the funding sources), Dang Nhat Minh had to find a way to work within the ideological constraints to speak his mind about the human condition in Vietnamese society. His early films were decided to be black and white by the director of Vietnam Feature Film Studio. As he recalled, Vietnam-produced films were divided into two groups: export-oriented films and films for the domestic market. Export-oriented films were prioritised to be colour, under the condition that they must show off a face of Vietnam that has bright cities, fashions, hotels and restaurants, industrial productivity, heroic fighting, etc. However, he feels lucky that his screenplays were placed on the list for black and white film funding. One example is the film "When The Tenth Month Comes." After authorities reviewed the screenplay numerous times, they forewarned Dang Nhat Minh that he would be allowed to make the film under the condition that the widow whose husband died in the war must not fall in love with the village's teacher. Dang Nhat Minh agreed but still tried to imply it in the film. The film screening for authorities went smoothly; however, they raised another concern for a scene that looked " superstitious." Dang Nhat Minh defended the scene, insisting that it was an essential characteristic of Vietnamese culture. The film was reviewed 13 times in total, making Dang Nhat Minh feel like he was a criminal dragged to trials after trials. At last, the scene was allowed to be screened but had to be shortened. Another example was The Girl On The River (1987). Heavily criticised by a high-ranked official in the Vietnamese government, it was only screened at one festival before disappearing in official screenings in Vietnam.


Awards & Recognition

- In 1986, Fifth Hawaii International Film Festival, Special Jury Award for "When the Tenth Month Comes"; the first Vietnamese feature film seen in the United States since the end of the Vietnam War. -
Nikkei Asia Prize The Nikkei Asia Prize (Japanese: 日経アジア賞) is an award which recognizes the achievements of people and organizations that have improved the lives of people throughout Asia. The awards were created and presented by Nikkei Inc, one of the l ...
for contributions to Asian cinema in 1999. - Lifetime Achievement Award at Gwangju International Film Festival (
Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
) in 2005. - In 2008,
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
voted "When The Tenth Month Comes" as one of the 18 best Asian films. - Audience Award at the 2009 Fukuoka Film Festival for " Don't Burn." - In 2010, the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
recognised Dang Nhat Minh for his contributions to Vietnamese cinema. - In 2016, Minh received the Licorne d’Or d’Honneur (Golden Unicorn Award) at the 36th Amiens International Film Festival (FIFAM) for his life-long contribution to filmmaking


Filmography

*Miss Nhung (1970) ''Chị Nhung'' *The Town Within Reach (1983) ''Thị xã trong tầm tay'' * When the Tenth Month Comes (1984) ''Bao giờ cho đến tháng mười'' *The Girl on the River (1987) ''Cô gái trên sông'' *The Return (1994) ''Trở về'' *Nostalgia for the Countryside (1995) ''Thương nhớ đồng quê'' *Hanoi: Winter 1946 (1997) ''Hà Nội: Mùa đông 1946'' *The Guava Season (2000) ''Mùa ổi'' * Don't Burn (2009) ''Đừng Đốt''


Notes


External links

*
Đặng Nhật Minh page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dang, Nhat Minh 1938 births Living people Vietnamese film directors People from Huế Winners of the Nikkei Asia Prize