Will Vietnam’s wistful childhood film do as well on the Oscar stage as it did at home?
According to Variety, Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced last Thursday that it has chosen Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh, or Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass, as the country’s contender for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards on February 26, 2017.
The coming-of-age feature was a sensation last year, drawing some 350,000 viewers and raking in more than US$3.5 million in revenue. The film was adapted from Nguyen Nhat Anh’s best-selling book by the same name and directed by Vietnamese-American director Victor Vu.
Yellow Flowers made headlines last year for being the highest-grossing state-commissioned movie ever to hit theaters. In 2015, Vietnam submitted Dustin Nguyen’s Trung So (Jackpot) for the same category but the film was not selected.
Yellow Flowers officially premiered on October 2, 2015. Thus, as Zing reports, it did not satisfy The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)’s screening requirements for the 2016 Oscars, which dictate that, to be nominated, movies must have at least one week of screening time in the previous calendar year.
Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh is set in a poor rural commune in 1980s Vietnam, chronicling the adventures of three young village children as the country went through its tumultuous post-American War years.
[Photo via A Virtual Voyage]
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