Gerald Herman in his Hanoi Cinematheque office, a big draw for hardcore fans of classic cinema in the capital city.

A quiet American raises the bamboo curtain on Vietnam calssics.

He ruffles his grey hair and orders a frothing cappuccino before striking up a conversation with some foreigners coming to his cinema in Hanoi.

A former advertising executive, film producer, director, write and lecturer, Herman’s singular contribution in recent times has been to help Vietnam conserve some of its celluloid cultural heritage.

Through his work, Herman has promoted the image of a country with a long history and culture. He has also introduced world cinema to Vietnamese audiences, in particular budding film makers.

“My primary activity in Vietnam since I have been here is to try to save and distribute great classic Vietnamese movies so that audiences all over the world can appreciate Vietnamese cinema,” he told Thanh Nien Daily.

He has spent thousands of dollars converting five acclaimed Vietnamese feature films, including Ganh Xiec Rong (The Traveling Circus); Dat Phuong Nam (Song of the South); and Bao gio cho den thang Muoi (When the Tenth Month Comes) into DVD format with subtitles in English, French and German. The latter was listed among CNN’s best Asian films of all time.

Vietnam has produced very good movies, especially from 1975 to 2000, with tight budgets but talented producers and directors, he says. “Their technique impresses me very much.”

But, Vietnamese classic films had never been available, and he chose to do something about it.

Herman says he is particularly happy that he has distributed the Vietnamese films in the United States, helping Vietnamese Americans deepen their attachment to their native country and their children understand more about its culture.

“I love and feel closer to my home country. Everything in the film was familiar to me when I was in Vietnam,” gushed Le Tra My, after watching Dat Phuong Nam on a DVD presented by one of her friends from Vietnam.

Herman, 61, who was born in New York, and has lived in Europe, Australia and Asia since 1972, aims to continue introducing Vietnamese films to the world.

“I would like to produce DVD editions of more outstanding Vietnamese films, including Thung lung Hoang vang (The deserted valley) by Pham Nhue Giang, and Mua Oi (The guava season) by Dang Nhat Minh,” he says.

Vice versa

Apart from producing DVDs of Vietnamese films, Herman has also run a small cinema in Hanoi since 2004, serving both local audiences and foreigners living in the country.

The Hanoi Cinematheque in Hoan Kiem District may be the sole theater of its kind in Vietnam, showing a number of famous Vietnamese feature films and documentaries with English subtitles, and pre-1980s classics in world cinema.

He wants Vietnamese film makers, students, actors and actresses to watch classic movies by great filmmakers around the world, to understand more about the art.

“Young filmmakers in Vietnam, even though they graduate from national film schools, do not have a very good background or knowledge of film history,” Herman feels.

“There are hundreds of great movies, and all of the movies are lessons in how to tell a story, and how to direct actors.”

It has taken a lot of time and effort for Herman to open the cinematheque, which is equipped with a special projector and screen to show digital films with high quality of image and sound, and earphones for audiences to choose either the original sound or the voice-over.

His cinematheque has kicked off a new trend as filmmakers coming here from different countries present their movies to the audience, answer their questions, and meet with Vietnamese filmmakers to share experiences.

Herman, who has been in Vietnam for 15 years and managed an advertising company in Ho Chi Minh City earlier, chose Hanoi to open the cinematheque, because he feels residents of the capital city are more prone to enjoy traditional culture while those in HCMC are always busy with work. “I believe I’m right in choosing Hanoi,” he says.

Happy in Hanoi, Herman wants to live there as long as possible to run the cinematheque.

“There are many foreigners here, especially those from embassies and companies. They want to see interesting artistic movies, but they don’t understand the Vietnamese language.”

However, he feels a little disappointed when he sees young people outnumbered in the audience.

“Today, in Vietnam, they (young people) want to see new things, and don’t want to look back. But, they may be missing good entertainment.”

In a showing of the Vietnamese film Ganh xiec rong, the audience was small, and included just three Vietnamese – all of them film students.

Reported by Bao Anh