As one of the first to receive the award, director Pham Ngoc Lan could not hide his joy and surprise when he stepped up to the podium. The young director from Vietnam had prepared a speech in English:
"I thank my family, the actors, the film crew, the producers and the organization that supported the project. Thank you to the organizers and jury of the Berlin Film Festival for giving me this meaningful award.
This is an opportunity for us to express our voices and viewpoints that bear the mark of the Vietnamese people, and also an opportunity to change the international perspective on a small country like Vietnam. This award further strengthens my belief that the Berlin Film Festival is always a place to support multi-ethnic voices."
Director Pham Ngoc Lan on the podium receiving the award at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival.
Coolie Never Cries is a story about a middle-aged woman played by People's Artist Minh Chau. She was married to a German man when he came to Vietnam to work as a hydroelectric expert. The two lived apart after her husband returned to his country and worked as a security guard at a zoo.
Hearing the news of her husband’s death, the wife went to Germany to receive the property left by her husband. She was also given a coolie – the last remaining animal after the zoo was dissolved. Parallel to the story in Germany, in Vietnam, the naive niece shocked her mother by announcing that she was pregnant and would soon be getting married.
Also present at the ceremony and witnessing the moment director Pham Ngoc Lan received the award, People's Artist Minh Chau could not hold back her tears of emotion.
In Universal Cinema, journalist Bita Habibi commented on Coolie Who Never Cries : "By using the concepts of time and return, Coolie Who Never Cries beautifully describes the saying 'No man steps twice in the same river'. And to find the 'promised land' in a planet that is always busy like this is impossible."
Pham Ngoc Lan, born in 1986, is a familiar name in the Vietnamese independent film industry. This is his second time at Berlinale.
Image of the film crew Coolie Never Cry at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival event.
Previously, his short film A Good Land competed in the short film category at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival and attended and won awards at several other film festivals. In 2020, his Invisible River received the Asino d'Oro (Golden Donkey) award at the Concorto International Short Film Festival in Italy.
Before Pham Ngoc Lan and Cu li khong bao moi (Cu li khong bao khong crying ), Vietnam had Vi by Le Bao (2019), Father and son and… by Phan Dang Di (2015) and Nuoc: 2023 (2014) by Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh presented at the Berlin Film Festival.
Established in 1951, the Berlin Film Festival is considered one of the three largest and most prestigious film festivals in the world, on par with the Venice Film Festival in Italy (1932) and Cannes in France (1946). The Berlin Film Festival Awards Ceremony is a major film event, honoring experimental, unique and timely film works.
Source
Comment (0)