Workshops in Viêtnam

To be able to register some of the new situations in an evolving Vietnamese society, Ateliers Varan set up a documentary film workshop programme in partnership with the Hanoi National Documentary and Scientific Film Studio to encourage the emergence of a new generation of documentary filmmakers.

In 2004, 9 films were made during a first workshop programme organised in Hanoï. In 2005, a similar experience took place in the south of Vietnam, with the creation of a workshop in Hô Chi Minh City. 9 films were made.

In 2006, in Hanoi, a Master Class course was held on the theme of “youth” with all the trainees from the first course in Hanoï, from the first course in Hô Chi Minh City and some new participants. They directed 10 films.

In 2008/2009 the experience was continued and consolidated around the common theme “What do we believe in?” with a group of former trainees and new participants, engaged in directing and editing. The project, supported principally by the Ford Foundation, also received help from the French Embassy, UNESCO and the French Region of Nord-Pas de Calais.

The Goethe Institute has also been part of the project since 2009. Most of these films have been widely broadcast in Vietnam and throughout the world. Some have received awards at international festivals.

In 2010 and 2011, two courses, one for beginners and one for advanced students, took place in Da Nang. And from 2012, the workshop structure went independent and a core of former trainees from different towns set up a company for production, distribution and training, Varan Vietnam, which has co-produced a number of feature films, including «Le dernier voyage de Mme. Phung », (Mme. Phung’s Last Journey) ; « Si près si loin, la forêt des ancêtres" (The Forest of our Ancestors, so close yet so far away) ; « Mon père, le dernier des communistes » (My Father, the last of the Communists) ; « Finding Phong », « Mon Père... » (My father).

In 2016, the first autonomous workshop programme took place, directed by former trainees who have now become independent filmmakers.

In 2018, a course will be held on the subject of urban planning in the Mekong Delta and in Hô Chi Minh City, in partnership with the Hoa Sen University, the BKU Polytechnical School and the Strasburg School of Archicture, ENSAS.