with Director Nguyen Thanh Van, actress Hong Anh and cinematographer Nguyen Huu Tuan
The lure of high paying jobs in an embroidery factory in Saigon is a compelling reason for young girls to leave their villages, and 17-year-old Mai considers herself lucky when the local broker sets her up with such a job. Things are not what they seem, though, and soon she discovers she's landed inside a very subtle web of brothel operations. With no one to turn to, she surrenders to prostitution, but when she learns that her younger sister is planning to join her, unaware of the real situation, she rushes back to her village to stop her sister from making the same mistake. Winner of a Global Film Initiative Award in 2007. Cosponsored with the Institute for Vietnamese Culture & Education, and the Cornell Vietnamese Student Association. Funded by the Department of Asian Studies, the Southeast Asia Program, the Einaudi Center, OMEA, and ISPB. 35mm
2008, color, 1 hour 26 minutes, Vietnam