Best of YXINEFF (Yxine Film Fest)

A true special: seven short films from the portfolio of the Vietnamese Online Film Festival, all from the last three years. Together they offer a panorama ranging from climate change and its dramatic consequences, to the passions that flow beneath the surface of seemingly undramatic daily life, to the structures of social prejudice. Presented by the founder of the festival, Marcus Manh Cuong Vu and Hooi Anh.

Hải Lý 2011 (Nautical Mile 2011)

D: Tran Thanh Hien & Pham Thu Hang, Vietnam 2011, 6min, English subtitles

The picturesque images are at odds with the terrifying impact of global climate change on the fishing village in the Red River delta. The destructive power of the rising saltwater table and the forces of change come to bear even on the old church.

Hai Chú Cháu (Uncle & Son)

D: Nguyen Dinh Anh, Vietnam 2012, 15min, English subtitles

Even though he has come to accept him in place of his father, the boy can no longer ignore the village gossip about his uncle. But his search for the truth behind the rumors results in entanglements that are yet far more tragic.

Bopha Pitorng Chomnas Tekpleang (Two Girls Against the Rain)

D: Sao Sopheak, Cambodia 2012, 11min, English subtitles

In this documentary, against the backdrop of a Cambodian society that is slowly opening up, two women look back at their struggle for the recognition of their love.

Hai, Tư, Sáu (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

D: Nguyen Hoang Diep, Vietnam 2012, 16min, English subtitles

Behind a carefree façade, the woman’s heart aches. Having married in her early years, she now finds herself torn between her duties as a wife and her love for a young student.

Đảo Ngọc (At Water’s Edge)

D: Đo Van Hoang, Vietnam 2010, 17min, English subtitles

Here, they seem to be far away from the clamoring city, as if in heaven: On the middle reaches of the Red River in Hanoi, people let their clothes and their worries fall away as they commune with nature for brief moments and share love and harmony.

Chở đá đi chơi (Go Playing with Ice)

D: Tran Ngoc Sang, Vietnam 2011, 11min, English subtitles

What role does one’s passion, one’s calling, play in one’s work? This film revolves around this question like a visual poem. A family has delivered ice in the villages of the South for three generations now. To them, their business is more than just a way of earning a living. What will become of it in the face of advancing urbanization?

Hồ nước (The Lake)

D: Dao Duc Hai, Vietnam 2010, 16min, English subtitles

Day after day, a boy and a girl of the Hmong people drive the water buffalo to a lake in the mountains. One day their access to the lake is blocked by other children. The ensuing altercation is so fierce and so moving that the viewer fears for the children’s well-being…