Oraiden Manuel: African Polytechnic student, plays 'Peach, pho and piano'

Young Mozambican student and actor Oraiden Manuel is taking Vietnamese audiences by storm with an impressive role in a film about Vietnamese history – 'Dao, pho and piano', which has been a box office phenomenon in recent days.

Oraiden Manuel, a 24-year-old student of African descent - Mozambican nationality, impressed Vietnamese audiences with a few masses in 'Dao, pho and piano', Oraiden Manuel was also popularly known as 'Duc Black', when he studied in Vietnam, at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

In director Phi Tien Son's work, Oraiden Manuel makes a fleeting appearance, speaking some short lines in French. He said that despite only participating in the limited amount of time, he and other mass actors had to work from morning to night for five days on set, filming many scenes over and over again until they were satisfactory. Oraiden said he admired the thoroughness of the crew, happy to have everyone's support to complete the role, and have a new experience.

Oraiden Manuel casting as the foreign student management teacher at Hanoi University of Science and Technology calls. He was chosen because he knew a little French, the right height. During the shooting, thanks to knowing both Vietnamese and English, Oraiden assisted in interpreting for some foreign actors.

"Some Vietnamese actors know I speak Vietnamese, they talk to me and understand more about Mozambique, Africa. To this day, I've kept in touch with everyone on the team, texting each other regularly," Oraiden said.

Oraiden takes about 5 days to accompany the crew, and many hours of continuous work every day. According to him, filming and filming is not easy for "horizontal" students, who are also foreigners. Meanwhile, actors from the masses to the lead roles have more or less experience acting in front of the camera.

Despite playing small roles, there were scenes that only lasted about 5 seconds, but Oraiden and his co-stars had to act many times because they did not meet the director's requirements. The director and everyone always patiently explain the context, emotions, expressions of action, facial expressions to the "dreamer" actors so that the scene is completed best.

Oraiden's closest companion in the process of making Dao, pho and piano is Ms. Nguyen Uyen, assistant director. "Before and during the filming crew, Ms. Uyen always persistently shared about the film contents, helping me deeply understand the character playing the role, the meaning of each role. In another part, I also taught many times for me to learn and follow the spirit of the character," the student said, adding that, although she only took on a small supporting role, Uyen always cared and took care of each actor's eating and sleeping.

When Dao, pho and piano are interested, Oraiden Manuel sends pictures of him in the film to his parents. Due to geographical distance and limited information, Oraiden Manuel's parents at first panicked that there was a war in Vietnam, their son joined the war. After being explained the image from the film, his parents proudly, often showing off their children's activities to colleagues.

In the future, Oraiden hopes to have the opportunity to act in more historical films, getting the role of a Mozambican film with the theme of love, the war period between Mozambique and Portugal. "I have a passion for history, and an interest in film projects that deal with people and countries." Oraiden said.

He was born in 2000, currently a student of Electrical Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Oraiden Manuel attended a top three university in Mozambique, then dropped out to study abroad on a scholarship from the Vietnamese Government. Before entering the University of Technology, he studied Vietnamese for a year. The teachers named Oraiden Manuel German in Vietnamese, to ease communication during the learning process. Friends used to call him Black German. Loving the Vietnamese language and Vietnamese history, Oraiden Manuel won many achievements such as the first prize of university-level scientific research students in 2021, the first prize of the third political contest on defending the ideological foundation of the Party organized by the Hanoi Party Committee.

Oraiden says the reason he learned about Vietnam was because of his History lesson in 8th grade, in the world history section. Since then, he has been impressed with its people and the S-shaped country, "a resilient, indomitable country at war against two world superpowers for independence." In particular, Vietnam and Mozambique have established diplomatic relations since 1975, so the student always wished to set foot in this country once.

That love was always kindled until he learned that there was a Government scholarship to study in Vietnam, Oraiden immediately stopped studying Computer at Lurio University - one of the top schools of technical and natural sciences in Mozambique.

At that time, the 19-year-old decided to apply and was lucky enough to be selected to study exchange in Vietnam.

"When I decided to study in Vietnam, my relatives and friends dissuaded me quite a lot. Most people thought Vietnam was still at war and difficult. At that time, although I did not know much about Vietnam, the internet was also limited, but I firmly explained to my family that war is in the past, the present S-shaped country is very safe, many big leaders in the world have come here," Oraiden recalled.

Peach, pho and pianoordered by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, with a budget of VND 20 billion. Filmed last year, the film is set in Hanoi during the 60-day-night war in late 1946 and early 1947, praising his love affair for self-defense Dan (Doan Quoc Dam) and Lady Ha Thanh Huong (Cao Thuy Linh). The work depicts a time of hardship and deprivation, when people always face death but are optimistic and love life. The bright spot in the fierce atmosphere of war is humanity and love of country. The project won the Silver Lotus Award at the 23rd Vietnam Film Festival, last November.

'Đào, Phở và Piano': Cơn sốt vô tiền khoáng hậu của điện ảnh Việt, lý do vì sao? Thanh Phúc17:07:29 07/03/2024Tác phẩm điện ảnh Đào, Phở và Piano tạo lên cơn sốt phòng vé hiếm có của điện ảnh Việt, bỗng bất ngờ nổi rầm rộ mặc dù không được quan tâm mấy trước đó. Nhiều người bắt đầu tìm lý do khiến phim tạo cơn sốt vô tiền khoáng hậu này.