Australian Film Roadshow 2008 comes to Vietnam

The Roadshow, which has been organized by the Australian Embassy to Vietnam, consists of the films Crackerjack, The Home Song Stories, Look Both Ways, Looking for Alibrandi, Razzle Dazzle, Ten Canoes, Two Hands and two short films: Crocodile Dreaming and the Oscar-Academy Award-winning Harvie Krumpet. These films have received 24 prizes from the Australian movie organization, and have been screened around Australia and in many countries in the world.

“The Australian Film Roasdshow 2008 features the diversity and capability of the movie industry of Australia”, said Allaster Cox, the Ambassador of Australia to Vietnam. Ambassador Coz has high hopes for the Roadshow, saying that Vietnamese viewers will discover interesting aspects of Australia in the films. The films will feature many internationally well-known actors and directors including Anthony La Paglia, Geoffrey Rush, Rolf de Heer, Heath Ledger, Joan Chen, Mick Molloy, David Gulpilil, John Clarke, Judith Lucy and William McInnes. According to Cox, the two films which have received the most recent international attention are The Home Song Stories and Ten Canoes.

The Home Song Stories, directed by Tony Ayres, tells the story of Rose, a glamorous Shanghai bar singer, and her struggle to survive in Australia with her two young children. This film won eight Australian Film Industry Awards in 2007 including prizes for leading actress and screen play.

Meanwhile Ten Canoes, which won a special prize from the jury panel at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, was the first Australian celluloid film made totally in an Indigenous Australian language. It tells the story of Dayindi, who covets the wife of his older brother. To teach him how to live in the right way, the older brother tells Dayindi a story from the mythical past, a story of wrong love, kidnapping, sorcery, bungling mayhem and revenge gone wrong.

The films will be shown in Hanoi from November 14 to 20 before moving to Thanh Hoa on November 17, Nghe An on November 18, Ha Tinh on November 19 and Quang Binh on November 20. The Roadshow will arrive in HCMC from November 28 to December 3 and go to An Giang Province from December 2 to 4.