Best Vietnamese documentary movies
A curated collection of popular documentary movies from Vietnam.
Битва за Москву: «Агрессия» (1985)
Битва за Москву: «Агрессия» (1985)
Sky Tour: The Movie (2020)
Children of the Mist (2022)
Children of the Mist (2022)
Di is a 12-year-old girl from the mist-shrouded mountains of northern Vietnam. She belongs to the Hmong, an ethnic minority in which girls get married at a very young age. This is often preceded by a controversial “bride-napping,” where the girl is abducted by her future husband on New Year’s Eve. Negotiations between the families follow. This also happened to Di’s sister and their mother, so it doesn’t seem strange that in preparation the women and girls discuss sex and married life without embarrassment. But Di also goes to school, where she learns very different values. And in her own way, even Di’s mother tries to warn her daughter about child marriage.
Madam Phung's Last Journey (2014)
Madam Phung's Last Journey (2014)
Endearing Madame Phung and her transvestite singers travel around Vietnam, sparking fascination and hostility from the local people.
The Glorious Pain (2020)
The Glorious Pain (2020)
“The Glorious Pain” is a documentary film which features the journey of a small classical Vietnamese opera (Tuồng) troup and one of the very few left, as they travel and perform through the Western Vietnam countryside. The Royal characters, behind the closed curtains are commoners and peasants who struggle to make ends meet. The troup is on the verge of disbandment because the main artists were going through a hard time. What future awaits the troup and its artists? Would it disappear in the same way as many other traditional art forms?
Living as One Should (1987)
Living as One Should (1987)
A Vietnamese documentary on human suffering and the meaning of kindness.
Hanoi in Whose Eyes (1983)
Hanoi in Whose Eyes (1983)
Made in 1982 but banned until 1987, "Hà Nội trong mắt ai" is a Vietnamese documentary film using historical figures and stories intertwined with the history of the city to reflect its citizens' views on society at the time.
KCBT (2015)
No Gods, No Masters (2017)
No Gods, No Masters (2017)
"No Gods, No Masters" quotes the slogan championing independent thought used by anarchists, feminists and workers in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. The video juxtaposes images and sounds recorded at various locations in Vietnam and features two appeals expressed by two supposed ghosts: one is hearable via an audio production by the 6th Psychological Operations Battalion (PSYOP) of the US-Army during America's war in Vietnam, which was intended as a weapon to weaken the fighting morale of the Vietcong, distributed via loudspeakers over their supply routes. The other ghost makes herself heard using Sung Tieu's aunt as her medium.
Vĩnh Linh Steel Rampart (1971)
Vĩnh Linh Steel Rampart (1971)
The story of the resistance of the people of the Vinh Linh area of Vietnam which was heavily bombed by the United States during the Vietnamese War. (Note: After shooting was complete the film crew itself was bombed and the footage lost. The director re-shot the film albeit in shortened form.) Documentary for the promotion of tourism in Vietnam and cultural diffusion, provided by the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the Kingdom of Spain authorized for publication in vietnamembassy.es (impact6) (Propaganda Film)