ViFF 2011 Wrap-Up

4,000+ Attendees Makes ViFF 2011 the Most Well-attended ViFF Yet!

IRVINE - The 5th biennial Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF) ended with an exciting closing night at UC Irvine in which awards were presented for best feature, best short film, and, for the first time, best actor and best actress. The eight-day film festival drew over 4,000 audience members, making it the well-attended ViFF yet. Filmmakers from Australia, Canada and Vietnam were present at ViFF which has been a unique forum showcasing works of filmmakers of Vietnamese descents from all over the globe since 2003.

Highlighted events at ViFF 2011 include the jam-packed opening night featuring SAIGON ELECTRIC (Directed by Stephane Gauger), the Spotlight Night honoring Vietnamese Australian filmmaker, Khoa Do, and presenting his award-winning film, MOTHER FISH. ViFF High School Day at Bowers Museum welcomed more than one hundred students from Westminster High School and a panel discussion on “Expanding the Audience Base” gave audience members an opportunity to dialogue openly about the film industry with prominent, international filmmakers and producers. The sold-out sneak preview of TOUCH (Directed by Minh Duc Nguyen) was an audience-favorite and the Closing Day capped off the stellar film festival with powerful films FLOATING LIVES (Directed by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh) and BI, DON’T BE AFRAID! (Directed by Phan Dang Di).

The Awards presented at ViFF 2011:

Grand-jury Trống Đồng Award for best feature film:

BI, DON’T BE AFRAID! (BI, ĐỪNG SỢ!) - directed by Phan Dang Di

Grand-jury Trống Đồng Award for best short film:

Phía Sau Cái Chết (Behind Death), directed by Ta Nguyen Hiep

Audience Choice Award for best feature film:

TOUCH (directed by Minh Duc Nguyen)

Audience Choice Award for best short film:

Fading Light (Theo Hướng Đèn Mà Đi), directed by Thien Do

Things You Don’t Joke About, directed by Viet Nguyen

Spotlight Award

MOTHER FISH (directed by Khoa Đỗ)

ViFF is presented by the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA) and UCLA’s Vietnamese Language and Culture (VNLC). ViFF was established in October 2003 to showcase Vietnamese and Vietnamese Diaspora filmmakers. The mission of ViFF is to support, celebrate, and project a diversity of visions and voices from filmmakers of Vietnamese descent and films by, for, and about the Vietnamese people and culture.

ViFF 2011 was made possible by the generous sponsorship/support of:

PRESENTING SPONSOR: WELLS FARGO

UC IRVINE: School of Humanities, Community & Government
Relations, UCI Advancement, Vietnamese American Community Ambassadors
(VACA) - an Alumni Chapter, Department of Film and Media Studies,
Department of Asian American Studies, International Center for Writing
and Translation (ICWT), UC Irvine Libraries Southeast Asian Archive,
Cross Cultural Center, Vietnamese American Coalition (VAC), Vietnamese Student Association (VSA), Asian Pacific Student Association (APSA), and UCI Continuing Education, Distance Learning, and Summer Session.

UCLA: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Asian American Studies Center, ORL

Bowers Museum, Access Group Media, Macy’s, Union Bank, N’Vive, DirecTV, Anhoi.com, White Knight International Inc., Brodard Restaurant, Phans55 Restaurant, Pholicious, Live 20 Group, Asahi, Saigon Beer, A2Z Printing and Promotions, Social Bliss, Association of Asian American Studies (AAAS), Vietnamese American Community Ambassadors (VACA), Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce (VACOC), SnapItStudio, www.onevietnam.org.

MEDIA SPONSORS:

Nguoi Viet Daily News, Viet Bao Daily News, Vien Dong Daily News, Viet Herald Daily News, VNCR, Little Saigon T.V., Saigon T.V., Viet Face T.V., VHN-TV, 13 Minutes Magazine, Làng Văn Productions.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Asian American Business Women Association, Asian American Professional Association, Asian Pacific Alumni (APA), University of California Los Angeles, Asian Pacific American Legal Center-Orange County, Asian Pacific Islander (API) Equality-Los Angeles, Asian American Studies Program, California State University Fullerton, California Young Women’s Collaborative (CYWC), Club O’ Noodles, Delhi Center, East West Players Theater, Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF), Khmer Girls in Action, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF), National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA)
Project MotiVATe, San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF), The Cambodian Family, The Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation, Vietnamese American Cancer Foundation (VACF), Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County (VACOC), Vietnamese American Community Ambassadors (VACA) at UC Irvine, and Vietnamese Traditional Arts Development Organization (VTADO).

Phan Dang Di receives the grand-jury Trống Đồng award from Screening Chair Lan Duong (left) and Co-Director Ysa Le.

Do Thi Hai Yen receives the Best Actress Award for her role in Floating Lives from Kieu Chinh.

Eliza Ngo, on behalf of director Minh Duc Nguyen, accepts the Audience Choice Award from professor Linda Vo.

Thien Do receives the Audience Choice Award for his short film Fading Light from Mai Bui (Executive member, Access Group Media)

Kieu Chinh presents the Spotlight Award to Khoa Do for his feature Mother Fish.