Tran Anh Hung

Trần Anh Hùng (English: Anh Hung Tran), born December 23, 1962)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is a Vietnamese-born French filmmaker.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life and education

Hung was born in Da Nang, South Vietnam.<ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite web
Template:Cite web</ref> Following the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, he immigrated to France at age 12.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hung majored in philosophy at a university in France. By chance, he saw Robert Bresson's film A Man Escaped and decided to study film instead. He went on to study photography at the National School Supérieure Louis-Lumière,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which trains cinematographers and supported himself by working in the Musée d'Orsay bookshop.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Film career

Hung has been at the forefront of a wave of acclaimed overseas Vietnamese cinema over the past two decades. His films have received international fame and acclaim, and his first three features were varied meditations on life in his home country of Vietnam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hung's Oscar-nominated debut (for Best foreign film) was The Scent of Green Papaya (1993), which also won two top prizes at the Cannes Film Festival.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His follow-up Cyclo (1995, which featured Hong Kong movie star Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Vertical Ray of the Sun, released in 2000, was the third film in his "Vietnam trilogy."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

After a sabbatical, Hung returned with the noir psychological thriller I Come with the Rain (2009), which featured a star-studded international cast including Josh Hartnett and Elias Koteas.<ref name="crafted">Template:Cite web</ref>

Hung directed Norwegian Wood,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's novel of the same name, which was released in Japan in December 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Films on Vietnam

In France, Hung studied at the film school ENS Louis-Lumière. For his graduation project in 1987 he wrote and directed a short film La femme mariée de Nam Xuong, inspired by an old Vietnamese folk tale (Truyền kỳ mạn lục).

Following this Hung made another short film, La pierre de l'attente (1989), before launching the feature film The Scent of Green Papaya (1993). The Scent of Green Papaya was acclaimed for its style and its beautiful images of Vietnamese life.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To date, the film is the only representative of Vietnamese cinema to be nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The success of Papaya helped Hung gain funding for the next film, Cyclo. The film tells stories of poor people living in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly called Saigon), and was filmed on location there. Cyclo won the Golden Lion at 52nd Venice International Film Festival, and at the age of 33, Hung was one of the youngest filmmakers to be thus honored there.

Having depicted life in Ho Chi Minh City, Hung turned his attention to Hanoi in The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000). The main characters of the film are three sisters who idolize their parents' family life, before the truth is revealed after the mother's death.

Influences and style of film-making

Hung's films are made to rebuild the image of Vietnam that he lost when immigrating to France, and to provide the audience with another point of view on Vietnam when this topic has been long dominated by French and American cinema. The stories are based on Hung's knowledge about Vietnamese culture and (in the second and third films) his first-hand experience gained from trips to the country.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Hung is strongly influenced by French cinema and from some European and Japanese filmmakers, namely Bergman, Bresson, Kurosawa, Tarkovsky and Ozu.<ref name="crafted"/>

Hung's style of filmmaking is expressed through the claim: "Art is the truth wearing a mask".<ref name="mask">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He denies the conventional story-telling style and pursues making films with a new language: "to challenge the audiences' feelings, making them enjoy the films not with the critical reasoning but the language of the body".<ref name="mask" />

As a banner of Vietnamese films, Hung, a French-Vietnamese director, shattered the stereotypical images of poverty and backwardness depicted in prior American and French films with his unique camera images, showing the audience a Vietnam where tenderness and cruelty coexist. In Vietnam, Hung's most famous "trilogy"—The Scent of Green Papaya (1993), Cyclo (1995), and The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000)—expresses feelings for his country.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

Feature Film
Year	English Title	Original Title	Template:Refh
1993	The Scent of Green Papaya	Mùi đu đủ xanh	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1995	Cyclo	Xích lô	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2000	The Vertical Ray of the Sun	Mùa hè chiếu thẳng đứng	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2009	I Come with the Rain		<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2010	Norwegian Wood	ノルウェイの森	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2016	Eternity	Eternité	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2023	The Taste of Things	La Passion de Dodin Bouffant	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Short Film
Year	English Title	Original Title	Template:Refh
1989	La femme mariée de Nam Xuong	Người thiếu phụ Nam Xương	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1991	La pierre de l'attente	La pierre de l'attente	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Accolades

Awards and nominations received by Trần Anh Hùng

OrganizationsTemplate:Efn	YearTemplate:Efn	Category	Work	Result	Template:Refh
Academy Awards	1994	Best International Feature Film	The Scent of Green Papaya	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
	2024		The Taste of Things	Template:Sho	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
Astra Film Awards	2024	Best International Feature		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
		Best International Filmmaker		Template:Nom
British Film Institute	1994	Sutherland Trophy	The Scent of Green Papaya	Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Cannes Film Festival	1989	Critics' Week Grand Prize Short Film	La femme mariée de Nam Xuong	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	1993	Award of the Youth	The Scent of Green Papaya	Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
		Caméra d'Or		Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
	2000	Un Certain Regard	The Vertical Ray of the Sun	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	2023	Best Director	The Taste of Things	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		Palme d'Or		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
César Awards	1994	Best Debut	The Scent of Green Papaya	Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
CineLibri	2016	Grand Prize for Best Literary Adaptation	Eternity	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Deauville Asian Film Festival	2011	Best Film	Norwegian Wood	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Film Fest Ghent	1995	Grand Prix for Best Film	Cyclo	Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
International Istanbul Film Festival	2011	Fipresci Prize	Norwegian Wood	Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Lund International Fantastic Film Festival	2009	Siren Award - Best International Film	I Come with the Rain	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Magritte Awards	2017	Best Foreign Film in Coproduction	Eternity	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
Mill Valley Film Festival	2023	Audience Award – World Cinema	The Taste of Things	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Miskolc International Film Festival	2023	Emeric Pressburger Prize		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
Montclair Film Festival	2023	Audience Award – World Cinema		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Palm Springs International Film Festival	2024	Best International Feature Film		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
San Sebastián International Film Festival	2023	Culinary Zinema Best Film Award		Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sydney Film Festival	2011	Sydney Film Prize	Norwegian Wood	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
Torino Film Festival	1989	Best Short Film	La femme mariée de Nam Xuong	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Venice Film Festival	1995	Fipresci Award	Cyclo	Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		Golden Lion		Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
	2010		Norwegian Wood	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Vietnamese International Film Festival	2013	Inspiration Award	—	Template:Win	<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	2023	Best Foreign Language Film	The Taste of Things	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees of Asian descent

External links

• Template:IMDb name