“How could this have happened to our family?” Get a first look at an official trailer for this acclaimed Czech indie film titled Summer School, 2001, a coming-of-age drama following a fractured Vietnamese family living in Czechia. This initially debuted at last year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival in Czechia as a major local premiere – I caught it there and wrote a strong review of it. It was heralded by the fest as “the long-awaited, first Czech Viet-feature” and the whole town was abuzz. It’s the feature debut of filmmaker Duzan Duong, a talented Viet-Czech director who grew up in the country, telling a story about his own community there. After 10 years in Vietnam, red-haired Kien, now 17-years-old, returns to his family’s market stall in Cheb, Czechia (see Google Maps) but instead of a warm welcome finds a distant father, tired mother, and harsh younger brother. There is plenty more revealed about everyone in the family as the story plays out during summer school, with an ensemble cast of local actors speaking both Czech & Vietnamese. Bùi Thế Dương stars as Kien, with Đoàn Hoàng Anh, Lê Quỳnh Lan, Tô Tiến Tài. The trailer features English subtitles (different color for each different language) – it’s a good intro this film and the cast of characters within it. // Continue Reading ›
