After years of project markets and multiple rounds of Asian grant funding applications, Vietnamese horror-comedy “Don’t Cry Butterfly,” is confirmed to have its world premiere in competition at the Venice Critics Week. Its backers have unveiled a first poster image.
Written and directed by Duong Dieu Linh, the Hanoi-set film follows a housewife who uses voodoo to try and get her cheating husband fall back into love with her, but instead invites a mysterious presence into the house.
The film marks the feature film directorial debut of Duong Dieu Linh, and is also a companion piece to her award-winning short film series about middle-aged women. These include “A Trip to Heaven,” “Sweet, Salty” and “Mother, Daughter, Dreams.” As with the shorts, “Butterfly” explores recurring themes of womanhood, family relations and cultural traditions, and is told through a quirky sense of humor and use of magical realism.
The film is produced by Singapore-based Momo Film Co. in association with Adeline Arts & Science, Fusee, Potato Productions, KawanKawan Media, Pupa Films and Kalei Films. Its’ international sales are handled by South Korean company, Barunson E&A.
The Critics’ Week’s artistic director Beatrice Fiorentino describes the film as being a mixture of “Feng shui and voodoo. Lyricism and magic [with] women’s issues at the forefront, dreams that crash against a reality mediated only by fantasy. [It is] an intimate and visionary film [and] a bittersweet story about family, set within four walls that become a powerful metaphor for contemporary society.”
“’Don’t Cry, Butterfly’ embarks on a quest to uncover the true perpetrator behind the women’s suffering, through the intertwined worlds of a mother and daughter, leading to a surprising discovery,” said Duong Dieu Linh. “It is my attempt to break away from the stereotypical portrayal of sad and powerless women, instead showing them full of life and humor, with a touch of magical realism and fantasies. I hope this brainchild of ours would charm the world as much as she did to us.”
At development and production stages, the title won the Wouter Barendrecht Award and Udine Focus Asia Award at the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the Moulin d’Andé Prize at Open Doors Locarno and the Screen Award at the Motion Picture Assn.
It was developed with assistance from Less Is More, Full Circle Lab Philippines, Attagirl and Berlinale Co. Production Market. It also received grant funding from the Purin Pictures Production Fund.