Metrograph

“The first feature from Vietnam Feature Film Studio follows lovers Hoài, a guerilla fighter from the North, and Vận, a young woman from the South, during the war against the French. Their romance becomes a casualty of partition when the country is divided at the Bến Hải River. Co-directed by Nguyễn Hồng Nghi—a pioneering documentarian who worked closely with Hồ Chí Minh, who gifted him North Vietnam’s only film camera in the early 1950s—this landmark work demonstrates how Vietnamese cinema has, from its very origins, channeled national struggles through the lens of romantic relationships.” —Minh Nguyen