Press Release                                                                                                                   
March 27, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                     
Contact:   Ysa Le
E-mail: ysadle@yahoo.com
Telephone: (714) 893-6145                      

VAALA Collaborates with the Bowers Museum to Present
Viet Film Wave Series
Orange County premiere: Owl and the Sparrow on Sunday April 6th
www.vaala.org & www.bowers.org

SANTA ANA, CA - The Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA) and Bowers Museum present THE VIET FILM WAVE, a compelling three-film series and symposium with the filmmakers.  The series dates are Sundays, April 6th, April 20th, and May 4th at 3:30pm with a symposium on May 9th at 8pm (reception at 7:30).  Admission for screenings is $10 general and $8 for Bowers Museum’s members; $5 for film symposium.  The screenings and the symposium will be held in the gorgeous Norma Kershaw Auditorium at Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main St, Santa Ana, CA 92706, Telephone: 714-567-3695. Tickets will be available at the door. 
Today’s Vietnamese American filmmaking reflects the vibrant movement to go beyond the scope of the mainstream’s telling of Vietnam and towards illustrating the dynamic Vietnamese experience itself.  The three films selected transmit these stories through the lens of talented and devoted filmmakers, screenwriters and actors.  Q & A with the filmmaker will follow each screening.
On the Orange County premiere of his film Owl and the Sparrow, "It will be a nice feeling to have the Orange County premier of "Owl" at the Bowers museum, allowing the public to catch a glimpse at Vietnam's society today in a tale of hope and connection,” said writer and director Stephane Gauger.  Gauger’s “Owl” will kick off the series with the acclaimed Journey From the Fall and poignant Buffalo Boy to follow, ending with a candid symposium and discussion with the filmmakers and actors on May 9th.

About the Films:


Owl and the Sparrow (2007), directed by Stephane Gauger

Sunday, April 6 – 3:30PM
OWL AND THE SPARROW (Cú và Chim Se Sẻ)
Vietnam/USA 2007/90 minutes/Vietnamese with English subtitles/Stephane Gauger, Writer and Director; Orange Country Premiere
A modern-day Saigon tale of the encounter between a lonely zookeeper, a beautiful flight attendant looking for love, and the young girl, a runaway, who brings them all together. Universal in its story, particular in its vibrant scenes of Vietnam, this is the poignant tale of yearning, love, and commitment.
Admission: general $10; members $8


Journey from the Fall (2005), directed by Ham Tran

Sunday, April 20 – 3:30PM
JOURNEY FROM THE FALL (Vượt Sóng)
Thailand/USA 2005/134 minutes/Vietnamese with English subtitles/Ham Tran, Director
Inspired by the true story of Vietnamese refugees, the film follows one family's struggle for freedom as they flee their country after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and chronicles those who were forced to stay behind. Journey from the Fall has won over ten awards at film festivals around the world and Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter called it, "A movingly rendered, stirringly photographed first feature."
Admission: general $10; members $8


Buffalo Boy (2004), directed by Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo

Sunday, May 4 – 3:30PM
BUFFALO BOY (Mùa Len Trâu)
France, Belgium, Vietnam 2004/102 minutes/Vietnamese with English subtitles/Directed by Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo
In this powerful coming-of-age story set in rural 1940s Vietnam, a young man from a poor family is sent by his father to find grass for their two starving buffalos. Before long, he takes up with a rough and dangerous band of buffalo herders and discovers freedom, adventure, and love—but also secrets about his past that will change his life forever.
Admission: general $10; members $8

Friday, May 9
7:30 PM Reception
8:00 PM Symposium
VIET FILM WAVE: SYMPOSIUM
As a culmination of the Viet Film Wave series, this special evening brings the directors, Stephane Gauger, Ham Tran, and Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo, and some of the films’ cast members together for a time of dialogue, discussion, and shared responses to the three films screened at the Bowers. The museum will host a reception prior to the symposium.
Admission: $5

Filmmakers’ biographies

Stephane Gauger
Writer/Director

Born in Saigon, raised in Orange County, California, Gauger received a bachelor arts degree in theatre and French literature. He subsequently worked in the camera and lighting departments on independent films in the U.S. and Southeast Asia, including Sundance winner “Three Seasons”, all the while honing his writing and directing craft on short narrative and documentary films.  “Owl and the Sparrow”, his feature debut received nine awards at film festivals in 2007, including the audience award at the Los Angeles Film Festival and best narrative feature at the Asian Film Festivals of San Francisco, San Diego, and Dallas.  Gauger was nominated for Breakthrough director at New York’s Gotham awards as well as the John Cassavetes awards at the Independent Spirit Awards.  He is now in post-production on “Vietnam Overtures”, a documentary on Vietnam’s classical music scene.

Ham Tran
Writer/Director/Producer

Born in Vietnam, the youngest of first generation ethnic Chinese Vietnamese parents, Tran immigrated to America in 1982 as a refugee.  A product of assimilation, Tran graduated from UCLA with a BA in English Literature, through what he considers a process of institutionalized amnesia.  His works in poetry, prose, playwriting, and film are a reflection of his process to regain lost memories.  His first two short films, “The Prescription” (1999) and “Pomegranate” (2000) were both semi-finalists for the Student Academy Awards.  Tran graduated with an MFA from the UCLA School of Film and Television.  His thesis film, “The Anniversary” (2003) won over 30 international film festival awards, and was short-listed as Best Live Action Short for the 2004 Academy Awards.  His first feature film, “Journey From the Fall” (2006), was widely received by critics when it was released theatrically in 2007.  “Journey from the Fall” has won over 16 international awards, and is currently available on DVD.
In 2007, Tran edited two feature films, “The Rebel” and “Owl and Sparrow”, the latter of which Tran also Executive Produced.  2007 also saw the release of “Oh Saigon!”, a feature-length documentary that Tran served as an associate producer as well as a videographer.  These films, along with “Journey From the Fall” are part of a new Vietnamese filmmaking movement, called “The Viet Wave”.
Tran is currently working on his next feature film, “Distant Country”, based on the outrageously true story of two Vietnamese illegal immigrants whose dreams of reaching the United States took them on a journey around the world.  In addition, he is also making a documentary film, tentatively titled, “Sponsored‘75”, which traces the lives of 10 Vietnamese families who were from the very first wave of Vietnamese refugees sponsored to America in 1975 and their American sponsors.  It is an examination of the reversals of fortune in the slippery toss of the coin of the American Dream.

Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo
Writer/Director

Nguyen-Vo grew up in a small town in Vietnam during the war.  To escape the fighting and atrocities, he spent a great deal of his youth in the only one-room movie theater in town that was managed by his parents.  Except when there was fighting, he was able to watch at least one film every week from around the world. 

After high school, he was awarded a scholarship to Université de Poitiers, France.  He continued his education in the US at UCLA and graduated with a Ph.D. in applied physics.   Now living in the globalized Los Angeles and returning to Vietnam regularly, he is trying to transcend the differences in these two worlds.

“Buffalo Boy” is Nguyen-Vo’s first feature.  It has received many awards around the world:

FIPRESCI Award for best foreign language submissions to the Academy Award, 2006, Palm Springs International Film Festival, US.

Youth Prize, Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland, World Premier.

Best Director award, Cape Town World Cinema Festival, South Africa.

Best Director award, Vietnamese film festival, Hanoi, Vietnam

Best New Director Award, Silver Hugo, Chicago International Film Festival, US.

Grand Prize, Golden Unicorn Award, Amiens International Film Festival, France.

Grand Prize, Asian Marine Film Festival, Makuhari, Japan.

First Jury Prize, Amazonas International Film Festival, Brazil.

Best Cinematography Award, 50th Asian Pacific Film Festival, Kula Lumpur, Malaysia.

Best Film of 2005, Cultural Center, Hanoi, Vietnam

Culture and Art Award in Cinema, Hochiminh City, Vietnam.