SYNOPSIS:
Dung dot, trong do da co lua (Don't Burn it, it's already on fire) is based on the war diary of female medic Dang Thuy Tram, published in 15 different countries and read by millions.

At the age of twenty-four, Dang Thuy Tram volunteered to serve as a doctor in a National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) battlefield hospital in Quang Ngai Province. Two years later she was killed by American forces not far from where she worked.

Written between 1968 and 1970, her diary speaks poignantly of her devotion to family and friends, the horrors of war, her yearning for her high school sweetheart, and her struggle to prove her loyalty to her country. At times raw, at times lyrical and youthfully sentimental, her voice transcends cultures to speak of her dignity and compassion and of her challenges in the face of the war's ceaseless fury.

The American intelligence officer who discovered the diary soon after Dr. Tram's death was under standing orders to destroy all documents without military value. As he was about to toss it into the flames, the Vietnamese translator said to him, "Don't burn this one. . . . It has fire in it already." Against regulations, the officer preserved the diary and kept it for thirty-five years. The diary was eventually published in Vietnam, causing a national sensation, and then translated into English under the name Last Night I Dreamed of Peace by Andrew X. Pham with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Frances Fitzgerald. The book was published on September 11, 2007 by the Random Publishing House.

In the film, Dang Nhat Minh juxtaposes the beautiful scenery in Vietnam with the brutal reality of war.

2009, Vietnam - 105 Minutes. In Vietnamese with English subtitles

Dang Nhat Minh, one of Vietnam's most important filmmakers, was born in 1938 in the old capital of Hue, and began making documentaries around 1965. He is the first Vietnamese to be awarded the Nikkei Asia Prize (in 1999), prestigious in Japan and the world. He has won three Gold Lotus, four Silver Lotus and many individual prizes at national film festivals. In 2001, he was invited by Phillip Noyce to join him as a second director in The Quiet American. Dang Nhat Minh has made nearly 20 films, both documentary and fiction. He is the former General Secretary of the Vietnam Cinema Association.

"For Dang Nhat Minh's filmmaking, the starting point is to capture the lives of ordinary people. Many of the works revolve around a wartime tragedy or love story, bringing into sharp focus the contradictions and problems in society from the perspective of the poor and underprivileged. The movies by Minh do not espouse the propaganda often found in the art of socialist countries. Rather, they display a warmth for ordinary people and an awareness and understanding of their problems. His films enjoy an international reputation for high artistic quality and keen social observation." -Takeshi Kaneyoshi, Nikkei-Net Interactive.

November 9, 2009, 7:00 P.M.
212 York Street, Room 106
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