Children in the mist making it to the shortlist of the top 15 Oscar nominations in the category of Outstanding Feature Documentary is beyond the imagination of director Ha Le Diem.
Ha Le Diem is a Tay, born in Bac Kan. Children in the mist revolves around the journey of maturity of a Mong girl named Di.
Lao Dong reporter had a conversation with Ha Le Diem.
I told the story of a young Mong girl but the world audience saw me in it
How did the information about the film "Children of the Mist" get into the shortlist of 15 films (chosen from 144 films from many countries submitted to the Oscar) for Ha Le Diem?
The evening of announcing Oscar's shortlist, I thought that my film would not be able to make it into the top 15, so I went to bed early. I did not pay attention and did not hope for anything. It is very difficult to get into the top 15. Until I woke up the next morning, I still found it unbelievable. Even the American press said when reporting the news, they were very surprised.
As for the film submitted to Oscar, Children in the mist won the Best Film award at the Docaviv International Film Festival, one of the Film Festivals where when it won the highest award, the film will automatically submit the film to Oscar for consideration.
Children in the mist has also attended a number of major film festivals in cities across the US and opened in the US. Therefore, the film is eligible and the film's US distributor has made a dossier and sent it to Oscar.
What do you want to convey through the story of a Mongolian girl when sending Children in the mist to the world?
Children in the mist is a story about childhood and the disappearance of childhood. I see myself through Di's story.
When I met the girl, watching Di play, I remember that I used to have such a childhood, used to be such a playful, mischievous child. And then, I don't know when, how, why did I grow up, why did I lose my childhood?
I spent more than 3 years eating, sleeping at Di's house and filming Di's journey to adulthood. When I started filming, Di was only 12 years old, a Mong girl living in Sa Pa.
Three years later, Di was approached by a young man who came to "show off his wife" (a Mong custom) but Di did not agree. For more than 3 years, I have recorded the impressions in Di's journey of growth.
Also in those more than 3 years, I have answered the question, why do we have to grow up? How have we grown up?
After more than 3 years of filming in Sa Pa, I returned to Hanoi to film. It took me 5 years to complete the entire filming of Children in the mist.
When I sat and watched footage filmed over 3 years ago, I could see how Di had changed. From the time I started filming the first scenes, to the last scenes, Di has gone from a child to a beautiful girl.
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Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Having lived with a human mother infected with HIV to film Children Go to School, he spent more than 3 years eating and sleeping at a Mong girls house filming Children in the mist. How do you earn money to make a living and make money to make movies?
I do a lot of work. As for filmmaking, after 3 years since filming started, I went to apply for a sponsorship (nearly the same as scholarship funds) for young directors of Busan Film Festival.
I have been rejected many times before, but when I had a specific image of the film project and convinced the support funds, my crew and I received a certain amount of investment finance to go to the final stage, completing the film.
When I started filming in Sa Pa, I borrowed everything. borrow my friend's camera, borrow a microphone from the TPD center, occasionally borrow the camera foot of director Bui Thac Chuyen...
In the Vietnamese film distribution market, feature films are still struggling because they cannot sell tickets and cannot reach audiences. Documentaries will be even more difficult. Why did you choose a documentary to tell the story?
My documentary is a direct documentary genre, filmed directly, without commentary, very few dialogue, only a trailer to the story.
I learned how to make documentaries, during my studies, I watched many films and was really classified as documentary conquest. The world has many good, attractive documentaries rich in cinema.
With the document genre, we can watch many times, each time we watch again, we discover a good detail, a new implied idea - that we missed at the previous review.
When watching and making documentaries, I stayed for a long time to explore a character, a land, a culture.
In 2019, I received support from the IDFA Film Festival to the Netherlands to attend the film festival, this is the largest film festival dedicated to documentaries in the world, the audience there is very large.
Documentary tickets are quite expensive, from 7-12 euros/ticket, but the audience is very large, almost covering the cinemas, many films are sold out before the Film Festival takes place.
At the Sydney Film Festival (Australia), a documentary cinema with more than 2,000 seats, with tickets ranging from 16-18 USD, is still closed. The world still loves the documentary genre, they have their own distributor for this genre.
When Children in the mist was shown in Taiwan (China), Australia, and France, many young audiences aged 15-17 went to watch it, and they really liked the film. The film also won two young judges' awards in Taiwan and Australia. Some teachers even let their own students come to watch the film. They said that they saw themselves, their emotions, when following Di's story.
Seeing the world audience come to watch the film, love the film, and even see myself in Di's story, I am very happy. I find my work valuable.
"Hearing the green rice on the foggy road, I was very touched"
As for you, what do you see in Di? How did the boy's poem of Tay pass in the story of the young Mong girl?
We have happiness in our own way, but grow up with common concerns. Should I continue studying or quit school to work? Should I get married early when all my friends are married? Di refused her friend to "decease" her to continue her journey to adulthood. Somewhere, I also have similar stories.
In the end, the most important thing for a film is the stagnant emotions. What are the emotions you think you have touched in Children in the mist?
Each audience will have their own emotions when watching the film. The film tells the story of sadness and loneliness of children like me, like Di when they have to grow up. We have to struggle with our own difficulties to overcome them.
Life is inherently complicated, the good and bad values are not always clear. Each of us on our journey must face choices. Some are better, some are worse, but there is a reason to be that way.
For my part, after more than 3 years living in Di's house to film, I had very happy and memorable days. Di's parents call me their child. People living here are very happy and love me.
Di's parents took me with them wherever they went, slowly to get married, celebrate the new house, celebrate the breakup... there were days when I went drinking with everyone, I didn't know anything.
I remember once, I had a little such a feeling, walking on a misty road with Di's parents back home.
At that time, Di's mother blew out the flute. The first time I heard the leaves, on the foggy mountain road, one side was a high mountain, the other side was a deep abyss, I was extremely touched by nature.
