Following documentaries on Kenyan slums and Hanoi’s Red River people, Phan Y Ly is about to produce a film on Vietnamese classical dance for the Discovery Channel.

Phan Y Ly (left) and Phan Huyen Thu, the producer of “The Living and The Dead in the City”.

Ly will tell stories about the dreams of ordinary Hanoians. Her characters are three middle aged locals who do very different jobs but share a love for dancing and meet each other in a contest.

Ly and 11 other directors came out on top in a competition organized by the Vietnam Cinema Agency, the Ford Foundation and the Redbridge company in August. The competition received 68 submissions.

The winners attended a recent Hanoi seminar with Ly’s project one of five scripts chosen and funded by the Ford Foundation to be produced for the Discovery channel.

Other winners were: Thanh Tung, Duy Linh, Manh Cuong and Manh Ha. They will receive $250,000 in total from the Ford Foundation to shoot their films, entitled “City of Passion”, “The Living and the Dead in the City”, “Warriors against Traffic Jams”, “The Winner of Oscar Statue” and “The Biggest House, the Smallest House”.

Phan Y Ly has a master degree in art in social development. In 2004 she went to Kenya to make a documentary about the Kibera slums. Later she worked with children living in the middle of the Red River to shoot the film “My Life – My Stand”.

VietNamNet/VNE