Saigon Love Story is Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

's first movie musical filmed entirely on location in Vietnam including Saigon and Phan Thiet

Phan Thiết

Phan Thiết town is the capital of Binh Thuan province, in southeastern Vietnam. Phan Thiet is a municipality in central, south central sector, however, the development plan to 2025, it would be municipality Southeast Vietnam. The population of Phan Thiết city in 2005 is roughly 350,000 and is...

. One of the first films independently produced outside of the Communist controlled film industry, overseas Vietnamese director Ringo Le decided to return to his birthplace to shoot his first feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 project. "Saigon Love Story" had a highly acclaimed sold out screening at VC FilmFest 2006. The film was an official selection into the Panorama selection at the Shanghai International Film Festival

Shanghai International Film Festival

The Shanghai International Film Festival , abbreviated SIFF, is one of the largest film festivals in East Asia.Along with Tokyo International Film Festival, the SIFF is one of the biggest film festivals in Asia. The first festival was held from October 7 to 14, 1993, and was held biennially until...

 2006 and was nominated for the "Winds of Asia-Best New Film Award" at the Tokyo International Film Festival

Tokyo International Film Festival

Tokyo International Film Festival is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biannually from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter...

 2006. Currently, the film has been traveling throughout the United States in sold-out roadshow tours to help bring attention to Vietnamese films and artists. It was released on Valentine's Day in 2008 across Vietnam.

• Directed by: Ringo Le
  Ringo Le
  Ringo Le is an Asian American filmmaker who is of Vietnamese descent. He directed the film Saigon Love Story which was nominated for the Winds of Asia-Best New Asian Film Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2006. The film was an official selection at the Shanghai International Film...
  
  
• Produced by: Tammy Le
• Starring: Ngo Thanh Van
  Ngo Thanh Van
  Veronica Ngô Thanh Vân is a Vietnamese dancer, singer, actress, and model. She is also known as Veronica Ngo or her initials NTV.-Biography:She was born on 26 February 1979 in Tra Vinh, Vietnam...
  
  , Hua Vy Van, Yen Vy, Chanh Tin
• Distributed by Celluloid Dragon Pictures

Synopsis

The movie is set in Vietnam during the 1980s. Danh is a young boy growing up in Saigon. Though he should help his mother to sell noodles from a cart out of their home, he often sneaks out to buy cassettes.

One day, he inadvertently stumbles into a mysterious beautiful street vendor named Tam, selling her cassette, Saigon Love Story. Intrigued about her music, Danh decides to buy the cassette, only to discover that it is blank. When Danh confronts Tam, he finds that she is penniless and unable to repay him, so she serenades him a song in her cassette. Enchanted, Danh finds a voice that has long been suppressed, a voice that is the ticket out of their impoverished life.