EXCLUSIVE: The producers of Nguyen-Vo Nghiem-Minh’s Picturehouse, a co-production between Vietnam, Singapore, France and the U.S., have dropped trailer and revealed cast on the eve of the Cannes market.
Inspired by the writer-director’s childhood, the historical coming-of-age drama is set in 1960s South Vietnam where a family-run theater becomes a haven for an eight-year-old boy who leans on the magic of cinema to grow up amid a divisive war.
The boy and his fellow townfolk draw hope from the flickering images and heroic stories they consume through Japanese samurai films and Hollywood Westerns, French New Wave and Hong Kong martial arts pics, while the war drags on outside.
The film was executive produced by Bao Nguyen, who is also attending Cannes as a producer on Vietnamese short film The Dream Is A Snail, which has been selected to compete for the Short Film Palme d’Or.
“It is a fictional story inspired by the lives of the people that I not only knew, but looked up to and loved growing up in my grandfather’s cinema. The physical movie house becomes the place that projects possible worlds beyond the war, so that the all-too-real violence can be turned back into fantasy on a bed-sheet screen made by my mother,” said director Minh, who spent six years developing the personal film.
The cast of Picturehouse, revealed for the first time, is headed by rising Vietnamese stars Tran The Manh and Khazsak. Manh’s credits include short film Before The Sea Forgets, which premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, and Ky Nam Inn, selected for Toronto’s Special Presentations. Picturehouse marks his leading role debut in a feature film.
Khazsak’s credits include Vietnamese features The Real Sister and B4S, and Korean film The Land Of Morning Calm, winner of multiple awards at Busan in 2024, including the New Currents prize.
Picturehouse is produced by Singapore’s Add Oil Films, U.S. production houses Green Snapper Productions and East Films, France’s Girelle Production and Vietnam’s HKFilm. It has the support of real estate management company Druce, Singapore Film Commission, and Organization Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).
Bao worked closely with Minh as producer and cinematographer on the director’s Nuoc 2030, the opening film of Berlinale’s Panorama section in 2014.
“The film feels both intimate and epic, capturing childhood, first love, imagination, and the transformative power of cinema against the backdrop of a country in turmoil. More than a war story, it’s a beautiful love letter to moviegoing itself and to the memories and people that shape us,” said Bao.
Picturehouse was shot on location in Minh’s seaside hometown Vung Tau, about 100km from Ho Chi Minh City. CJ CGV will handle theatrical release in Vietnam.
The film was shot by Vietnamese cinematographer Nguyen Phan Linh Dan, who will be presented with the Angénieux Special Encouragement award during the Pierre Angénieux Tribute ceremony at Cannes, in recognition of her work as an emerging cinematographer.
Sometimes credited as Minh Nguyen-Vo, Minh made his feature debut with 2004’s Buffalo Boy, which won multiple awards including the youth jury prize at Locarno where it had its world premiere, and was Vietnam’s submission for the 2006 Oscars in the Best Foreign-language Film category.