Film Description

THE TEACHER is the riveting story of Nguyen Van Hung and his battle against AIDS on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It’s the story of a human being fighting an epidemic that claims its victims by the millions; the story of innocent children and teenagers struck by the reality of a global nightmare, a threat to humanity that most of us in the West like to believe has been conquered. The story takes place in Vietnam but it could be any poor neighborhood or country around the world. The characters are living testimony to local grassroots organizing around an international matter, a testimony to dignity in a world of shame, to generosity in a time of individualism, to humanity in a time of rampant terrorism.
This is not a humanitarian tear-jerker, but a cinema verité film full of suspense, tension, emotion, and vibrant characters worthy of fiction, unfortunately all too real. The film can be as harsh as it is touching, but will leave no viewer insensitive to the struggle of young AIDS victims around the world just trying to grow up like the rest of us.

Style
This documentary film revolves around the frenzied yet passionate life of Nguyen Van Hung, better known to the street children as “the professor”. The camera follows Van Hung, founder of the SMILE Group for children affected by AIDS, in his round-the-clock struggle to put meaning and hope back into their young lives.

From weddings to funerals, maternity to palliative wards, Hung races against time. He wins, he loses, but he never stops running. Only when listening to a scared mother, a sick child, an overwhelmed grandparent does time stop, does a moment last forever.

In between visits, Hung works on opening a center for children and young people with AIDS. Step by step he puts the pieces together : raising money, renting a house, training staff, creating a web site…  Hung doesn’t have a formal education but his brain works like a think-tank.  He initiates the children to yoga and massage, nutrition,
professional job-training; he consults the internet for the latest information on AIDS, coordinates community and family outreach, and peer counseling. Hung leads the children on a journey from isolation to community, from ignorance to knowledge.  But for how many people, for how long? In the period of two year, 13 members of the group have succumbed to AIDS. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, 40 people die of AIDS every single day.

The pace of the film mirrors the pace of Hung’s life: a constant fury interrupted by timeless encounters. The film will be structured around the gradual birth of the Center – a slow progression from diffusion toward focus, never sacrificing the daily visits to isolated AIDS victims throughout the sprawling metropolis.

The camera is a discreet, intimate observer. The viewer is in the room, present, concerned.  I have known and filmed with Van Hung for over 10 years. My presence never seems to interfere with the intimacy and depth of the situation.

The film is shot and edited in cinema verité. It takes us into places to which we are rarely admitted and creates deep feelings and understanding of characters we would probably never meet in our lives. The film gives us insight into a world problem on a very human scale.  It tears down borders between countries, conflicts between tribes and brings viewers to a common struggle, which could one day be their own. The story brings us closer to aspects of humanity that draw us together, that make us one.

Director’s note
Five years ago, in 2003, I bought a new digital camera. I had never done my own camerawork and decided to practice filming a Vietnamese friend who had become a legend amongst street children in South Vietnam.  Little did I know at the time that the very intensity and beauty of the scenes I was about to witness would become a striking documentary. I have had the experience of starting out to make a film which fizzled into nothing, but this was the first time that the images themselves, day after day, grew into a powerful story. I might say that this is not a film which set out to tell a story, but a story which begot a film - a film that I will always be proud of.