Celebrating the renaissance that Vietnamese filmmaking has enjoyed lately, Megastar is organizing a “Vietnamese Film Week” in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City that screens some of the most notable works of the last few years.

This is a unique opportunity for non-Vietnamese speakers to enjoy some of the best films that Vietnamese cinema has to offer. Of the 12 films that will be screened through the rest of the week, the three outlined below will be shown with English subtitles:

Dong mau anh hung (The Rebel): In 1930’s colonial Vietnam, there is an active, underground resistance movement fighting the French. “The Rebel” tells the story of a Vietnamese man who works for the French bureaucracy. After he falls in love with a young freedom fighter, he begins to question his loyalties. This action-packed blockbuster took Vietnam by storm last year and is sure to entertain.

Sai Gon nhat thuc (Saigon Eclipse): In some ways, this romantic drama is unique as it takes on a very serious subject rarely broached in popular culture – human trafficking. Unfortunately, not many of the pieces fit together and it mostly turns into camp when trying to be serious. It often feels, as one of my friends put it, “like a book report on ‘War and Peace’ written by a third-grader.”

Hat mua roi bao lau (The Bride of Silence): After being cast out of her village for having a baby out of wedlock, Ly An must begin an epic journey in order to take care of her son. Two decades later, her son begins his own journey to retrace his mother’s steps in an effort to understand the woman he never knew. Deliberately paced yet powerful, “The Bride of Silence” is one of the great accomplishments of Vietnamese cinema in the last decade.

If you have a mind to brave the films without subtitles, here’s some info that may prove useful:

Nu hon than chet (Kiss of the Death): One of Death’s angels falls in love with the woman he’s supposed to bring to the afterlife. This comedy is the largest grossing domestic movie in Vietnamese film history.

Nhung co gai chan dai (The Long-Legged Girls): examines the drama and intrigue in the mysterious and sexy world of fashion modeling.

Doi cat (Sandy Life): During the war, a married man goes to the front to fight for his country, and marries again in the field. After the war is over, he must return home with his new wife.

Ao lua Ha Dong (The White Silk Dress): Tells the story of one family from the 1940’s through the war years, focusing on a white ao dai two sisters must share in order to attend school.

Song trong so hai (Living in Fear): A veteran returns home to his village and is assigned the unenviable task of ridding the area of landmines.

De muon (Pregnant by Proxy): When a married couple are not able to conceive, the wife decides to allow her husband to sleep with another woman in order to have a baby.

Hon Truong Ba da hang thit (Truong Ba’s Soul, Butcher’s Body): One day Truong Ba wakes up to find himself in the body of his butcher. Based on a famous folk tale.

Hoai Vu Trang (The White Flower): A Vietnamese female spy and her US-backed lieutenant – who is married – fall in love.

Thung lung hoang vang (The Deserted Valley): When an urban school teacher decides to go work at a school in the northern highlands, she finds concerted opposition to her presence due to her affair with a soldier.

Sinh menh (The Life): For her comrade-in-arms who is the only son still alive in his family; and whose mother very much desires a grandson, a Vietnam-war soldier decides to give him a baby only three days before he goes off on a lethal assignment. The son is born as soon as his mother dies.

Reported by Aaron Toronto

Poignant scenes from Song trong so hai (Living with Fear).