Tran Anh Hung's Romantic Vietnam

Graced with a Camera d'Or at Cannes and an Academy Award nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for his debut film, The Scent of Green Papaya (1993), Vietnamese-born Tran Anh Hung has gained further international recognition through awards such as the Il Leone d'Oro at the Venice Film Festival for his second film, Cyclo (1995). This young director has brought his innovative talent and experimental spirit to bear on the illustration of the complex weave of life in Vietnam, and a commitment to the land of his birth comes through in all of his films. His third feature, The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2001), is another depiction of Vietnam, this time representing Hanoi as a virtual Garden of Eden.