[ELLE Voice] Nguyen Hoang Diep: The movie is the white cloud in my life

Flapping wings in mid-air received many prestigious international awards and positive reviews from the audience.

Even though she’s so busy, when ELLE asked her to summarize her achievements, she answered humbly: `My biggest achievements up to this point are my two sons entering middle school this year.`

In the program Autumn Meeting 3 years ago, she once said, `If women want to make movies, don’t rush to get married, just fall in love.`

Difficulties exist in every profession and in every gender, but it is true that in the arts, getting married and having children requires careful planning.

If the most energetic period of your life is youth, it is understandable that you want to shoulder both family and movies at the same time.

When I first started my career, I was very natural, didn’t think much and was also… aggressive.

Are you afraid that these shares will make female readers who dream of becoming directors hesitate?

The above fatigue and exhaustion to the point of complete physical and psychological exhaustion are real, very clear, and not vague at all.

Adults should be honest with young people.

When you work as a director and spend most of your time on set instead of at home, how will your children react?

Even when I’m not filming, I often leave early and come home late.

The children weren’t pleased, but they weren’t upset or upset either.

Can you share this feeling with any colleagues?

Well, one time I was so stressed, I wrote a letter to Mr. Hung (director Tran Anh Hung), complaining: `I’m terribly disappointed in myself, I can’t do anything meaningful.

Mr. Hung is truly a good person.

It’s been a few years since Flapping Wings in Mid-Air, but she still doesn’t have a second movie project.

I also do a lot of work, but I do production for independent film projects, most of which… exist secretly, or just go through censorship.

I’m also quite sad about this.

So what projects are you currently participating in?

I am making a documentary about artists Xuan Quynh and Luu Quang Vu.

`On the roof, high above the forest, Above the forest, the drifting clouds, Above the days, above all the bitterness, My film is the white cloud of my life.`

In your opinion, what does Vietnamese cinema need to do to encourage female directors to create more balance?

Cinema now has many people studying it, and there are many female students.

So, instead of focusing absolutely on cinema, you definitely need to devote yourself wholeheartedly to taking care of your children, raising your family, even selling online… to take care of diapers.

For you, what is the most powerful weapon female directors have that male directors don’t have?

In previous interviews, I answered about something that I still don’t remember exactly.

Of course, the femininity in the films directed by them is truly difficult to imitate, and very valuable.

She likes the poem White Clouds of My Life by poet Luu Quang Vu.

I have said this many times, I say it like a declaration, without waiting for anyone to ask.