Archive of films Beautiful Country / Beautiful Country

Norway / USA
2004, 120 min

Section: Horizons
Year: 2004

The twenty-year-old Vietnamese Binh is the son of an American soldier who, years ago, married his mother and then abandoned the family. The young man survives a long and wretched journey to the USA to find a new home and the man who is his father.

Synopsis

Twenty-year-old Binh lives with his grandmother and aunt in a small Vietnamese village. But, his aunt is about to get married and there is no room in the little house, so he decides to go to the city to find his mother whom he does not remember. He knows he is the son of an American soldier, and that his mother was forced to bear the consequences of being linked by marriage with "the enemy". Not even his mother, slaving as a hotel maid, can help her son in his search for a home. He decides to set out for America to find his lost father. Binh defies the harsh conditions on the refugee ship, survives a humiliating stay in a collection camp for Asian immigrants, and even a murderous voyage on an American tanker, which costs many refugees their money and their lives. The humiliating process continues in the land of freedom. Binh, however, discovers that as the son of an American father he has a homeland and rights…

About the director

Hans Petter Moland (b. 1955, Oslo) lived for a long time in the USA, where he graduated in film and theatre direction from Emerson College. He began as a director of commercials (chiefly for Giraldi Productions), through which he gained fame and a number of awards at international film festivals, including Cannes. After returning to his native Norway, he established himself as a director and producer (he founded the largest Scandinavian advertising company, Moland Film). He made his directing debut in 1993 with the drama The Last Lieutenant (Secondloitnanten). His second film Zero Kelvin (Kjarlighetens kjoterne, 1995) won Norway´s national Amanda Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the IFF in San Sebastian. It was shown at Karlovy Vary, as was his next film, a drama about an alcoholic, Aberdeen (1999), with Stellan Skarsgard in the leading role.

Contacts

Norwegian Film Institute
Box 482 Sentrum, 0105, Oslo
Norway
Tel: +47 224 745 00
Fax: +47 224 745 97
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.nfi.no

Kew Media Group
19 Heddon Street, W1B 4BG, London
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 207 851 6500
Fax: +44 207 851 6506
E-mail: [email protected]
www: https://www.kewmedia.com/

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About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Horizons

Director:	Hans Petter Moland
Screenplay:	Sabina Murray, Larry Gross
Dir. of Photography:	Stuart Dryburgh
Music:	Zbigniew Preisner
Editor:	Wibecke Rønseth
Producer:	Petter J.Borgli, Edward R.Pressman, Tomas Backström, Terence Malic
Production:	Dinasun Productions LLC
Cast:	Damien Nguyen, Bai Ling, Nick Nolte, Tim Roth
Contact:	Norwegian Film Institute , Kew Media Group

Guests

Stine Oppegaard

Film Institution Rep.