8th anniversary European – Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival.

The eighth edition of the festival is set to take place on June 9 to 18 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City within the framework of activities launched by the network of the European cultural institutes and embassies (EUNIC) in Vietnam.
The event aims to further strengthen ties between EUNIC members with Vietnam. Nine countries of the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Belgium and Israel will screen 31 documentary films which have won high prizes at international festivals.
Free screenings will include one documentary film from Vietnam and one from other nations (with Vietnamese subtitles). During the festival, there will be also exchanges and dialogues between film-makers and Vietnamese audience.
Two years ago, The 7th European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival opens in Hanoi with the film “Lasting with the time” by Le Hong Chuong. He deals with the fate of those Vietnamese soldiers who fought in South Vietnam during the war and died there, leaving only their letters and diaries behind. Based on these documents, “Lasting with the time” traces the lives of the soldiers, their fears and wishes.
This is followed by the award-winning music documentary “Sound of Heimat” by German director Arne Birkenstock, who will personally present his film. He describes in a humorous way the turbulent journey of the New Zealand saxophonist Hayden Chisholm through the German music landscape. Far removed from clichés, Chisholm explores both traditional and modern paths of German music and invites the viewer to join him on a unique journey of discovery.
Arne Birkenstock was born in 1967 and lives in Cologne as writer, director and film producer. He studied economics, politics, history and Romance languages in Cologne, Buenos Aires and Córdoba.
His films have won numerous awards, including the 2011 German Film Award for Best Children’s Film as well as the 2010 Award for Best Documentary at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival for “Chandani and her Elephant”, and the 2014 German Film Award in the category Best Feature-length Documentary for “Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery”.
Arne Birkenstock is a member of the German Film Academy, the European Film Academy and the European Documentary Network (EDN), and is active in the Documentary Film Working Group (AG DOK).