Three documentary films about Long Bien Bridge’s revitalized image, produced by Vietnamese and Danish film-makers are to be screened at the Hanoi National Cinema Centre on November 30, 2008.
The screening is jointly organized by the Cultural Development and Exchange Fund, the Danish Embassy and the Vietnam National Studio for Documentary and Scientific Film.
The film “Hanoi has Long Bien Bridge†directed by Pham Cuong and Vu Tru portrays the bridge as a Hanoi icon, while the film “Under the bridge, on the water’s surface†by Nguyen Sy Chung, focuses on the impoverished lives led by those living under the bridge.
Screened alongside the two Vietnamese documentaries will be a 30-minute documentary co-produced by Danish directors Steen Moller Rasmussen, Cai Ulrich V. Platen and Peter Schultz Jorgensen. The documentary’s production costs were supported by the Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF) of the Embassy of Denmark.
According to an Embassy press release issued on November 20, 2008 the Danish team has expanded on and renewed the classical tradition of documenting the flow of life around a central nexus of society. The documentary lingers on the history of the bridge, though the major focus is on the area’s street life, generated and continually created by the presence of the bridge.
Long Bien Bridge, built from 1899 and inaugurated in 1902, has witnessed historical epochs spanning 3 centuries. The 2.5 km-long bridge spans Hong (Red) River and connects the capital of Hanoi with the northern and eastern regions. The Long Bien Bridge has continued to play a vital role in Hanoi’s self-image and is often extolled in poetry and song.