Actress Hai Yen - internationally known for The Quiet American and Adrift - will return to the big screen in the new movie by auteur director Phan Dang Di, Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories. The second film directed by Phan Dang Di after Bi, Don't Be Afraid, this project will feature Do Thi Hai Yen as both the leading actress and producer.
The latest project by Phan Dang Di tells the story about some young men trying to scrape out a living on Saigon's mean streets - so desperate that they will allow themselves to be sterilized for cash.
On July 2, the World Cinema Fund (WCF) of the Berlin International Film Festival (Germany) announced the four film projects that are funded by WCF in 2013, including Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories. This project defeated over 130 projects from 48 countries to get Eur40,000 from the WCF.
Phan Dang Di was previously funded by the WCF to produce his first film Bi, Don't Be Afraid in 2008. That film would go on to win two prizes at the Critics Week sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival 2010. Last year, a film project directed by Nguyen Hoang Diep with Phan Dang Di as the producer - Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere - received the WCF's Eur50,000.
Before getting WFC support package, Phan Dang Di brought his project to many international film festivals and forums to seek financial partners. The project will be kicked off later this year.