Cinema was once just a side path for Ha Le Diem and the young girl made films from scratch at the age of over 20.
During the awards ceremony of the first Da Nang Asian Film Festival 2023 - DANAFF I held in mid-May, many people were surprised and impressed to learn that the owner of the most prestigious award of the film festival was a girl who was only 31 years old.
That girl is Ha Le Diem, Tay ethnic, from Bac Kan .
Stepping up from the back of the auditorium, passing the rows of seats of veteran domestic and international directors and actors, Diem repeatedly bowed politely to greet them. She stepped onto the stage, smiling brightly to receive the trophy and certificate from Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha and People's Artist Nhu Quynh as the director of the Best Asian Film - Children of the Mist.
Holding the trophy in her hand, the first person Ha Le Diem remembered and thanked was Ma Thi Di - the Mong girl character in the film. The dress Diem wore that day was made from Mong indigo fabric, sewn and given by Di herself. Perhaps, Diem wanted the main character to witness that important and meaningful moment with her.
Before this award, Children in the Mist was shortlisted for 15 best documentaries at the 2023 Oscars.
The film made Ha Le Diem the first Vietnamese female director to have a documentary nominated for an Oscar - the oldest award in the global cinema industry.
Children in the Mist also won the Best International Film award at the Docaviv Film Festival and the Best Director award at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival in November 2021, along with about 30 other major and minor awards.
Looking at such an impressive list of achievements, many people probably won't believe that cinema was once just a side path for Ha Le Diem and that the young girl started making films from scratch at the age of over 20.
In real life, Ha Le Diem is innocent and somewhat carefree like a 9X generation. Born in a mountainous commune in Bac Kan province, Diem is also "a child in the mist". Diem's mud-walled house is nestled in the forest, surrounded by mist.
In winter, when Diem stepped out of her house, she only saw a hazy white color, unable to see clearly in front of her, nor behind her. The fear of walking alone in the fog made the Tay ethnic girl once lie that she was sick so she wouldn’t have to go to school.
Diem's grandfather was a teacher and had a lot of books. From a young age, he encouraged her to read a lot of books to broaden her knowledge. From the pages of books, the Tay ethnic girl learned about new things outside her small village.
When she grew up, Diem dreamed of going out and seeing the world. She entered the Faculty of Journalism at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) with the thought that journalism would take her to many places and discover many interesting things.
However, in the first years of university, because of her shy nature, Diem just kept to herself in a corner. She was afraid of going to crowded places and rarely made friends. After 2 years in Hanoi, Diem only knew the 2km road from the dormitory to school. In a class of 108 students, she only talked to 5 or 6 people.
Wanting Diem to change and be more open, a friend invited her to join a free documentary filmmaking course offered by the TPD Center for Supporting and Developing Cinema Talents, Vietnam Cinema Association. However, the Tay female student kept hesitating. After many times of persuasion from her friend, Diem finally signed up for the last course.
The trip to the class near Hoan Kiem Lake was also the first time Diem traveled more than the usual 2km in Hanoi. At that time, the young girl did not expect that after traveling that distance, she would have a whole journey full of surprises from Vietnam to the world.
Studying documentary film, Diem realized that this genre is not as dry and selective as she imagined. She gradually fell in love with documentaries and tried her hand at making films.
From the knowledge accumulated from the free course, in 2011, Ha Le Diem started making the film Con di truong hoc with 2 million VND in support funding from TPD .
Diem’s character at that time was a single mother infected with HIV living with her 5-year-old son in a house perched in the middle of the mountains and forests in Duong Quang commune, Bac Kan. With perseverance and sincerity, Diem was able to convince the character to open up and share the hidden sadness in her heart.
That day, instead of a video camera, Ha Le Diem used a Canon 550D camera as a recording device. She and the character went to the forest to chop wood, do gardening or followed her sister to take her children to school, go to get medicine. Diem alone took on the role of the entire crew from director, cameraman, editor...
Diem's simple films realistically depict the life of a poor woman who unfortunately has a terminal illness, and can only put her faith and hope in her son by carrying him over mountains and wading through streams to school every day.
The first work was completed when Diem was still a student. The young girl did not expect that Con di truong hoc would later become more successful than expected when it won the Silver Kite Award (there was no Golden Kite that year) for the short film category in 2013. This is a long-standing award of the Vietnam Cinema Association.
After graduating from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ha Le Diem applied to work at a newspaper and then transferred to a large corporation, working in the communications department. At both units, Diem worked in the video department to be able to tell stories through film.
"In 2016, when I was accepted into Varan Vietnam's documentary filmmaking course, I asked for a 3-month leave to go to school, but my superiors gave me two options: "either quit or the agency would increase my salary so I could continue working." I didn't think much about it and decided to submit my resignation," Ha Le Diem recalled.
She shared that she did not hesitate much because she understood that her job at that time had not yet completely helped her "touch life". She gradually realized that documentary films were the right choice because only by following this genre of film could she freely explore, have time to deeply understand the characters' stories, and listen more.
Quitting her job at a large corporation with a high salary, Ha Le Diem went to Ho Chi Minh City for 3 months to improve her knowledge. When she returned to Hanoi, her savings of more than 30 million VND in her pocket were exhausted.
Economic difficulties began to challenge the young girl. Song Diem still decided to pursue the path of independent documentary filmmaking. She thought that as she moved forward, the path would become clearer each day, just like the way she overcame her fear every time she walked on the foggy road when she was a child.
Ha Le Diem admits that she is a poor filmmaker. If the first time she filmed Con di truong hoc , she had 2 million VND in support, then when she made the film Nhung dua tre trong suong , she had almost nothing but a clear passion.
The female director told Dan Tri that in 2017, during a field trip to Sa Pa, Lao Cai, she was arranged to stay with a Mong family. Here, she met Ma Thi Di, a 12-year-old girl who was quite active and curious about everything. Being taken around the village by Di to participate in Mong activities, Diem came up with the idea of making a film to record the most innocent and pure things of Di's childhood.
Diem had to run around to borrow an old camera to go to Sa Pa to make a film (this camera was later bought back by Diem, and it wasn't until 3 years later that she was able to pay the old owner 30 million VND for the camera).
Because of choosing a direct storytelling style, prioritizing the truth, minimizing commentary, and letting the characters express their emotions, Ha Le Diem spent nearly 4 years filming the scenes.
During that time, the young girl did many jobs to earn money to make films. Because she lived with a friend from Ham Yen, Tuyen Quang, every year when the orange season came, she and her friend brought oranges from Tuyen Quang to Hanoi to sell. In addition to selling oranges, Diem also sells online other specialties of her hometown.
Sometimes, she accepts to film wedding videos for a salary of 2-3 million VND. Sometimes, Diem accepts to be the training manager for TPD's filmmaking classes. Sometimes the work is endless, but sometimes no one calls her.
"After each time I sell oranges, attend a wedding or attend a training class, and receive some money, I take my camera to Di's house. I don't choose to live there because I want my characters to have their own private space and for them to have something new to tell when they meet me again," said Ha Le Diem.
For nearly 4 years, Diem could not remember how many times she had traveled from Hanoi to Sa Pa and back. That long process was of course an obstacle for someone like Diem who had no money to make films.
At that time, no producer had accepted the film. Many times, she had no money left for food. Diem survived on the rice her mother sent from her hometown and the kindness of her roommate, whom Diem called her "foster friend", who advanced money to cook for her.
She also saved as much as possible, limited all personal needs, sometimes had to "borrow" money from her mother to spend. Her parents were also very upset when they found out that their daughter gave up a stable job to pursue the career of "wandering around all day" with a camera.
Mentally and professionally, Diem is lucky to have friends who are willing to spend time watching her draft films and give her impartial comments. She also has the support of female director Tran Phuong Thao, who taught her in the Varan film class, Mr. Swan Dubus and a teacher in France. Some of them have discouraged Diem because they saw that she was spending too much time on the film while the results were not clear.
Despite the dissuasion, Diem still diligently and persistently goes to Sa Pa every year. Many local people and officials are no longer surprised to see the image of a young girl wearing sandals and holding a camera walking around the village.
After having the materials in hand, Diem started submitting applications for funding from dozens of organizations. In 2019, she received her first support from a Korean fund, followed by several other funds. With the money, Diem hired people to edit the film, translate the Mong language, and handle post-production in Thailand...
The film The Children in the Mist was completed and premiered at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival in November 2021. To date, The Children in the Mist has participated in more than 100 film festivals around the world, and has been released in theaters in the US, Taiwan, China, Taiwan and Singapore.
Looking back on that journey, Ha Le Diem confided: "When I started working on it, I didn't think my film could go this far. Thanks to Children in the Mist , I had the opportunity to visit many countries and attend many film festivals.
In conversations with international friends, I learned more about cinema in other countries and also had the opportunity to share about Vietnamese cinema, learning valuable filmmaking experiences."
The heartfelt film was shortlisted for the top 15 Oscars 2023, Ha Le Diem sees it as a great encouragement. However, she does not put too much pressure on herself, considering it a huge shadow that she must overcome in the future.
"My biggest goal is to tell the story and the reality of the life that my characters are living. I think whether or not it reaches many people is also related to factors of communication, promotion and sometimes policies from management levels.
If everything is in harmony and a film has enough fate, I believe Vietnamese films will have many opportunities to reach the world," the female director shared.
Recently, Ha Le Diem received many invitations from domestic and foreign film studios, but she still likes independence so she did not accept any offers.
Sharing about her upcoming plans, the female director said that she will still choose to make films about women and children. In addition to developing her own career, Diem and her friends maintain the activities of the Doc Cicada group. The group was established to provide free advice to young people with a passion for filmmaking on how to introduce projects, bring Vietnamese films to international competitions, etc.
Diem's wish is that not only herself but also many other young people will come to documentaries and tell stories about life, the country and people of Vietnam.
"There are stories that can be simple, but through the language of cinema, they need to be told and when they touch the hearts of viewers, they will help spread a lot of meaningful things," Ha Le Diem shared.
Content: Pham Hong Hanh - Toan Vu - Ninh Phuong
Design: Do Diep
Dantri.com.vn
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