Metrograph

“Commissioned to create a tourism film celebrating Hanoi’s attractions, Trần Văn Thuỷ instead made Hanoi Through Whose Eyes?, a melancholic meditation on the capital, considering official narratives of ancient elegance alongside the reality of long welfare lines and neglected monuments. Trần’s essayistic visual time capsule comprises prominent intellectuals, artists, and musicians, including the blind musician Văn Vương and painter Bùi Xuân Phái. Initially censored, the film was later rehabilitated, earning critical acclaim and the state’s Golden Lotus prize. This program opens with The Fox Deserved It and The Talking Bird, two shorts from the Vietnam Animation Film Studio, where animators trained by distinguished artists created allegorical tales about anti-colonial struggle for children.” —Minh Nguyen