HÀ NỘI -- Chinese-French filmmaker and author Dai Sijie will be the jury chair of the Đà Nẵng Asian Film Festival (DANAFF) in the most important category - the Asian Film Awards.

Chinese-French filmmaker and author Dai Sijie. Photo Flammarion

In 1984, Dai Sijie went to France to study on a scholarship at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques - France's oldest film school.

In 1989, Dai Sijie directed his debut film China, My Sorrow, set against the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution in 1966.

His most prominent film is based on his first book, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which was made into a film in 2002, which he himself adapted and directed. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, competing in the Un Certain Regard category.

The film also received numerous nominations, such as Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globe Awards, Best Adapted Screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2003 and Best Asian Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2004.

In 2006, he directed The Chinese Botanist's Daughters with many scenes shot in Việt Nam, including locations in Hà Nội, Ninh Bình and Lào Cai Province.

He also published four highly acclaimed novels, including Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, The Di Complex, Once on a Moonless Night and The Gospel According to Yong Sheng. Among them, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress was translated into 32 languages, became a bestseller and won five literary awards.

In 2022, he was awarded the Legion of Honour in Literature and the Arts by the French Ministry of Culture, named Chevalier de L'ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres.

With the theme 'Asian Bridges', DANAFF will take place from July 2 to July 6 and is expected to attract thousands of cinema fans.

DANAFF is managed by the Đà Nẵng People's Committee and co-organised by the Đà Nẵng Department of Culture and Sports, the Việt Nam Film Development Association (VFDA), and other foreign partners.

Ngô Phương Lan, VFDA chairwoman said the festival would celebrate the finest films in Asian and Vietnamese cinema, as well as provide a forum to build relationships in the film industry between Vietnam and the Asia-Pacific region.

The festival also aims to support emerging talent in Vietnamese and Asian cinema and to provide the public with new high-calibre cinematographic works from Asian and Vietnamese films, as well as some international releases.

Last year, the festival attracted artists including renowned arthouse Korean actress Moon So Ri, Korean director Jang Joon Hwan, Kazakhstan director Adilkhan Yerzhanov and the Vice President of communications of the Asia-Pacific Region for the Motion Picture Association International, Stephen Jenner.

The best Asian film was judged to be the documentary Những Đứa Trẻ Trong Sương (Children of the Mist) from Vietnamese director Hà Lệ Diễm. VNS