Front matter

Trần Văn Thủy clowning around in front of the camera as a boy.

In 1953, Trần Văn Thủy, then a little boy of 13, was sent by his father to a friend’s family for “vocational training”—the head of this family was the owner of a photography shop on Paul Bert Street in Nam Định. The boy thereupon began to make his first acquaintance with “film” and “pictures”—as for “picture films,” they would come much later.

The boy not only took photos of himself and did his own “make-up,” but also… played roles, though his acting technique extended only to crossing his eyes and letting his mouth drop open!

But director Trần Văn Thủy’s distinctive, inimitable personality and his love for film making and devotion to all its details “from A to Z”, was born at that time, and adhered to him throughout his life.

And that is a Very Long Story.

Order In Whose Eyes from the University of Massachusetts Press, or from Amazon.