'Rookie' actor suddenly became famous
The film Peach, Pho and Piano was directed and written by artist Phi Tien Son and ordered by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Released on the first day of Lunar New Year (February 10), the film and its cast quickly attracted public attention.
Although only appearing in a few short scenes, Mozambican (African) student Oraiden Manuel Sabonete playing the role of a French soldier still left a big impression on viewers.
"This will be my most memorable experience in Vietnam," Oraiden said. Notably, as soon as the film was released and information about his role was posted on social media, the African student received thousands of friend requests on Facebook.
Oraiden Manuel Sabonete, student at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.
"I thank the Vietnamese people for their care, friendliness and good feelings. It's a pity that I can't agree to be friends with everyone because Facebook's friend list is limited and currently overloaded," Oraiden shared.
The male student started participating in the film project Dao, Pho and Piano in December 2022 through the invitation and connection of a teacher at school, "the reason I was chosen was because I know a little French and Spanish".
Oraiden spent about five days with the film crew, working many hours a day. According to him, filming and acting in the film was not easy for a "non-professional" student, especially a foreigner. Meanwhile, the actors, from extras to main roles, all had some experience acting in front of the camera.
Even though he played a small role, with some scenes lasting only about 5 seconds, Oraiden and his co-stars had to re-act many times because they did not meet the director's requirements. The director and everyone else were always patient in explaining the setting, emotions, actions, and facial expressions to the "rookie" actors so that the scenes could be completed in the best way possible.
The person who accompanied and was closest to Oraiden during the filming of Dao, Pho and Piano was Ms. Nguyen Uyen, assistant director. "Before and during the filming, Ms. Uyen always patiently shared the content of the film, helping me deeply understand the character and the meaning of each role. Another part, she also demonstrated many times so that I could learn and follow the spirit of the character," the male student said, adding that even though she only played a small supporting role, Ms. Uyen always cared and took care of each actor's eating, sleeping and resting.
Love Vietnam from the first lesson
Oraiden said the reason he knew about Vietnam was thanks to a History lesson in 8th grade, in the world history section. Since then, he has been impressed with the people and the S-shaped country, "a resilient and indomitable country when fighting against two world superpowers to gain independence". In particular, Vietnam and Mozambique have established diplomatic relations since 1975, so the student has always wished to set foot in this country one day.
That love was still burning until he heard about the Government scholarship to study in Vietnam. Oraiden immediately stopped studying Computer Science at Lurio University - one of the top universities in engineering and natural sciences in Mozambique.
At that time, the 19-year-old boy decided to apply and was lucky enough to be selected to study exchange in Vietnam.
Oraiden Manuel Sabonete (right) in a scene from the movie Peach, Pho and Piano (Photo: NVCC).
"When I decided to study abroad in Vietnam, my relatives and friends discouraged me a lot. Most people thought that Vietnam was still at war and facing difficulties. At that time, although I didn't know much about Vietnam and the internet was limited, I firmly explained to my family that the war was in the past, that the S-shaped country was now very safe, and that many great leaders in the world had come here," Oraiden recalled.
In 2019, Oraiden boarded a plane to Vietnam. He studied Vietnamese for a year at Thai Nguyen University of Education. The biggest difficulty in learning Vietnamese for Oraiden was the punctuation marks. Even after completing the language program, he still made mistakes and had to read very carefully.
Passing the language exam with 10 points in speaking, Oraiden chose electrical engineering at Hanoi University of Science and Technology because the knowledge learned here is essential to building the energy industry in Mozambique.
The first lessons at the Polytechnic were really stressful for Oraiden due to language limitations, he could not understand what the teachers were saying. In Mozambique, although he had studied calculus, when he came to Vietnam, he found these subjects almost new because the difficulty increased many times.
On the day of the exam for some subjects such as algebra, probability and statistics, and introductory physics, he could not understand the questions and had to retake many subjects.
"Whenever I feel discouraged, I often call my dad to find motivation again," the boy said. Oraiden's family has many children, his father is an engineer, his mother is a nurse. However, his parents divorced when he was young. Both of Oraiden's parents were busy with their own families, so from a young age he was always independent, trying to become an example for his siblings.
In addition to studying at school, the male student spends 3-4 hours a day studying on his own. He also often seeks help from his classmates to study in groups and learn knowledge. Thanks to that, Oraiden achieved perfect scores in a number of subjects, including Marxist-Leninist Political Economy.
"The reason I got 10 points in this "difficult" subject is because I am passionate about Vietnamese History. I spent a lot of time "studying day and night" to study and review for the exam with my friends and teachers," he confidently boasted.
Catching up with the study pace, in the second year, Oraiden and his group of friends participated in scientific research with the topic "Vietnam - Mozambique economic relations from the international economic integration policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam".
This topic of Oraiden group has two articles published in scientific journals and has been confirmed for its applicability by the Department of Enterprise Development, Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Embassy of Mozambique in Vietnam.
Oraiden Manuel Sabonete received the award from the Hanoi Party Committee.
The topic also helped the Oraiden group win first prize in the 2021 University-level Scientific Research Student Competition and was nominated to participate in the Ministry-level Science and Technology Award.
The contest entry with the theme "The significance of the Party's bamboo diplomacy in responding to non-traditional security challenges" by Oraiden and his colleagues recently won first prize in the magazine category and second prize in the video category from the Hanoi Party Committee. The magazine article then won the prospective award in the national final round.
At the end of October, Oraiden and two Laotian and Cambodian students representing Hanoi University of Science and Technology participated in a Vietnamese speaking contest organized by the Ministry of Education and Training. In his performance, Oraiden spoke about the relationship between Vietnam and Mozambique, the road named after President Ho Chi Minh, and Viettel's coverage of rural areas in his native Mozambique.
Sharing about his upcoming plans, Oraiden aims to complete his studies at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. After that, he will return to his country to work and support his family's finances. "In particular, I want to bring the film Dao, Pho and Piano to Mozambique for my family and friends to watch, to introduce more about the resilient and indomitable country of Vietnam during the war, and to rise strongly today," Oraiden Manuel Sabonete added.
The film "Peach, Pho and Piano" is a project directed and written by Meritorious Artist Phi Tien Son, invested by the state with a budget of 20 billion VND. "Peach, Pho and Piano" is set in the context of the 60-day and night winter-spring battle from late 1946 to early 1947 in Hanoi.
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