University of Miami

Student Life, Exhibits & Films

Directed by Stephane Gauger Vietnam/USA, 2007, 35mm Film, 97 minutes, Color, Vietnamese with English Subtitles, Rated PG Thuy, a scrappy ten year old who lives on the outskirts of Saigon, has no choice in life but to work in her uncle's bamboo factory. That is, till she packs her bags to run away into the city. Now forced to survive on her own, she first sells postcards then flowers on the streets. Lan, the flight attendant, arrives at Ho Chi Minh airport on a five day layover, checking into the same family-run hotel every week. The hotel girls wonder why she's along, but Lan only tells them that she's just hard to understand. She doesn't tell them that she's having a secret affair with the airline pilot. Hai, a zookeeper living on the park grounds in a shack, is nursing a broken heart after his fiance left him. He lives only for his animals now, until the zoo director tells him that his beloved elephant will soon be shipped off to an Indian zoo. In four days, the young runaway will play matchmaker to these lonely hearts in hopes of forming a surrogate family. Winner of the Audience Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival.