FOR TRAILERS, SEE THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE
Distribution rights for Othello Khanh's Saigon Eclipse (Sài Gòn nhật thực) are to be offered for sale by Vietnam Media Corporation at this year's Marché du Film in Cannes, which runs from May 16th to 26th. The movie had its world première at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival on April 26th. It's scheduled to be screened at VC FilmFest 2007: The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival on May 5th. It's scheduled to be released theatrically in Vietnam on May 18th.
The screenplay for Saigon Eclipse was written by Khanh, John Board, and Bernard Leroy Deval; it was inspired by the epic poem "The Tale of Kieu" by Nguyen Du (note: all names are written in ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1)). The movie stars (credits as they appear on the official website for it) Truong Ngoc Anh as Kieu, Dustin Nguyen as Kim, Johnny Nguyen as Trong Hai, Marjolaine Bui (a.k.a. Marjolaine Bui-The) as Vanessa, Nhu Quynh as Ba Tu, Edmund Chen as Long, Daniel You as Henry, Joseph Chang Tseng as Chen, Nguyen Trong Hai as Captain Khanh, Luu Phuoc Sang as Mr. Wu, Diem My as Anh, Phi Thanh Van as Suzy, Tran Thuy Huong as Huong, and Ralf Matthaes as the "Saigon Suzy" singer.
Here's a synopsis for Saigon Eclipse from the official website for the movie: "Kieu, a beautiful and talented actress, is starring in a film directed by Kim, an American/Vietnamese who has come back to Vietnam to become a part of the new wave of Vietnamese film culture. The film is being produced by her Uncle Henry and her mother Ba Tu.
It is a seemingly wonderful situation until the fragile family balance is disrupted when Kieu falls in love with her director, and Uncle Henry's mounting gambling debts shut down production of the film. Uncle Henry embraces dishonest ways to pay off his debts, entering the murky realm of human trafficking.
Kieu must come to terms with the curse of beauty and the cost of loyalty that have forever burdened her life. Can Kieu save her family? And will our modern Kieu find her way back to her one true love?"
For more information on Saigon Eclipse, see ScreenAnarchy's second and first articles on it.
YouTube: Saigon Eclipse trailer #1 page
Saigon Eclipse HQ trailer #2 (downloadable 10.2 MB MOV file)
YouTube: Saigon Eclipse trailer #2 page
YouTube: Saigon Eclipse trailer #3 page
Saigon Eclipse promo photo #1 of Marjolaine Bui (80 KB JPEG)
Saigon Eclipse promo photo #2 of Marjolaine Bui (104 KB JPEG)
Saigon Eclipse promo photo of Phi Thanh Van (48 KB JPEG)
Saigon Eclipse official website
MySpace: Saigon Eclipse official page
Saigon Eclipse English official blog
VC FilmFest 2007: Saigon Eclipse