Phan Dang Di: the father of an award-winning series, his television adaptation immediately caused a fever

Phan Dang Di is one of the famous independent art filmmakers in Vietnam. Recently, he turned his attention to making his first TV series "Wish We Could Fly Together", which is currently receiving many positive responses from the audience.

Phan Dang Di was born in 1976 in a family of teachers, grew up in teacher dormitories from Nam Phuc (Nam Dan) to Xuan Tien, Xuan Vien (Nghi Xuan) and then Vinh city.

Phan Dang Di admitted that it was from his hometown of Nghe An - the birthplace of many great patriots such as Nguyen Truong To, Phan Boi Chau, Nguyen Ai Quoc... that helped him realize a very patriotic spirit. specific to Nghe An people: The spirit of patriotism is associated with a sense of innovation.

When he was an 11th grade student in Vinh, Dang Di saw the sparkling images of Vietnam put into the movie "The Smell of Green Papaya" by director Tran Anh Hung. The film won the Caméra d'Or (Golden Camera) award at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

The Cannes event that year made a great impression on him. Originally intending to become a writer, he decided to enter Film School. A year later, he took the school's week-long entrance exam.

In 1994, Phan Dang Di passed the exam to enter the Screenwriting Department, Hanoi University of Theater and Cinema. That was a period when the entire film industry was struggling with shortages and backwardness and at times, he felt... disillusioned with filmmaking! Graduating from school with a degree in screenwriting, he was accepted to work at the Cinema Department as a trainee civil servant. When Bureau wrote the book History of Cinema, he had the opportunity to meet many witnesses, early cinema people, meet and get documents.

At that time, he did not think about making movies, wanted to be left alone and occasionally write a script. However, this period of time gave him an overall view of Vietnamese cinema, what was and is happening. He is quite knowledgeable and understands the inside story of the country's cinema history.

He decided to quit working at the Cinema Department because he felt there was a conflict between his desire to make movies and his position as a civil servant. In addition, at that time, he taught for the Film Studies program sponsored by the Ford Foundation, opened at Hanoi National University. The teaching salary is enough to live; In addition, he has some money saved up to apply for funding for his first full-length film Bi, don't be afraid . He started taking photos of projects, making documents, hiring them to translate into English and sending them to festivals.

A special thing in Phan Dang Di's works is that somewhere there is the memory and cultural soul of his homeland Nghe An, it could come from a childhood memory of watermelons growing wild next to a tree. The soccer field that he once tried to hide from other children. This is a detail he impressively included in the movie "Bi, don't be afraid!". But, for Phan Dang Di, memory and love of the homeland are not just artistic materials, they are already in the director's soul, to one way or another, become the cinematic spirit always oriented towards innovation. . This spirit originates from the desire to explore the world, the ambition to surpass oneself, to reach for new things in creativity, a form of innovation that has created the identity of generations of Nghe An people.

Later, Phan Dang Di became known to the audience through the films Playing With (screenwriter); When I Was 20 (short film); Compassion, don't be afraid; Father and son and ; He offered fish, she ate flowers .

Phan Dang Di's works have been premiered and competed at leading international film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Busan... During the journey of more than 15 years of pursuing filmmaking, the director has changed a lot. but the cinematic language is always consistent.

In 2024, director Phan Dang Di caused a stir when he first released the movie Wishing Let's Fly - his first drama after decades of focusing on movies.

Taking advantage of his personal filmmaking style, often showing his acumen in creating characters and expressing messages about life and society, the male director "let his soul" into the project Wishing We'd Fly Together.

After 4 years from the start of filming, I wish we could fly together was officially released in early 2024. More than expected, the film received objective feedback from audiences who love the youth - family genre thanks to its everyday story, simple, gentle.

Belonging to the psychological, emotional, family genre, Wishing We'd Fly Together is set in a small neighborhood in the early years of the 21st century, where a life of poverty gradually disappears, giving way to the race to reach wealth. The film is a journey about the fate of people who want to escape poverty, they are forced to enter a life with many dreams, ambitions and losses.

The film is the unvarnished life of a poor neighborhood, showing many aspects of life, from harshness and injustice to solidarity and hope. Wishing We'd Fly Together is airing exclusively on VieON and receiving a warm reception from the audience, above the director's expectations.

Regarding Phan Dang Di's enthusiasm, he has been meticulous in every step right from the beginning such as selecting actors, working with them for 4 months, inviting acting experts and former chief flight attendants to support the team. The crew grasps and understands the director's intentions.

He confided that at first the film was not noticed and felt a bit sad, but thought that even if the film did not receive attention, he and the whole crew had tried their best and should not be too sad. After that, the audience gradually gained interest in the film, and he relieved some of the pressure. From episode 6 onwards, the work received a lot of discussion and interaction from the audience.

The total talent of Vietnamese films caused the producer to change the script because he was "threatened" by the audience Phương Thảo14:24:35 06/03/2024Recently, social media has been buzzing with the drama series aired on VieON thanks to the appearance of many young faces, good acting and especially the rumbling chemistry of the couple Chao (Le Hai) and Nhi (Trinh Thao).