Nostalgia for Countryland

Nostalgia for the Countryside explores the tensions and traumas of everyday life in a rural Vietnamese village. The arrival from abroad of Quyen, who fled the village as a small girl, coincides with the sexual awakening of 17-year-old Nham, through whose eyes the story unfolds. While picturesque on the surface, the countryside that Quyen dreamed about turns out to be a landscape of poverty, passion and tragedy - though not without pockets of warmth and humor. Highly controversial at the time of its release, Nostalgia for the Countryside has been acclaimed as a masterpiece, due largely to the sensitive and compassionate storytelling of director Dang Nhat Minh.