Scriptwriter Quan Lelan (photo: SGGP)

The Moondance International Film Festival, held in Boulder, Colorado, is among the top independent film festivals in the world. It is widely considered the “American Cannes” and honours outstanding movies and scripts .

Quan Lelan’s “The Princess Concubine” is about a brave girl who wants to change her destiny. When her country faces ruin, she decides to use her beauty and ingenuity in the hope of ending the war.

Elizabeth English, director of the Moondance festival, paid tribute to the script describing it as “wonderful” and “the best I’ve read”.

This script has also been selected as one of the top 250 scripts at the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards in the category of historic films. The competition attracted 4394 scripts from 59 countries - the highest number ever submitted.

Quan Lelan was the first Vietnamese student to obtain a Master’s degree in film from the University of Southern California. He participated in the production of the first American movies shot in Vietnam, such as “Three Seasons” and “The Quiet American”.

In 2001, his script “Hill 66” made the quarter finals of the Nicholl Fellowships sponsored by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In 2006, Quan Lelan became the first Vietnamese American scriptwriter to win first prize at PAGE for a script entitled “Curse of the Precious Consort.”

The film of the script is now in production.

VietNamNet/TT/VNE