Cu Li Never Cries

Epicmedia teams up with upcoming Vietnamese auteur Phạm Ngọc Lân for his debut feature Cu Li Never Cries.

Having picked up the ashes of her long-estranged husband in Germany, a woman returns to her Vietnamese home. In her luggage she is carrying a pygmy slow loris, a species of primate from the Vietnamese rainforest, which she has inherited from the deceased. The woman’s young niece, who lives with her, is preparing for her wedding. The young couple anxiously ponders their uncertain future together. The present in which the characters live and the complex echoes of Vietnamese history intertwine in a contemplative and poetic way.

Cu Li Never Cries is an Epicmedia coproducing collaboration with Cadence Studio (Nghiêm Quỳnh Trang), Ân Nam Productions (Trần Thị Bích Ngọc), Acrobates Films France (Claire Lajoumard), Purple Tree Pictures Singapore (Teh Su Ching & Lai Weijie) and Ape&Bjørn Norway (Verona Meie); marking a new chapter in a series of Southeast Asian x European coproductions.

Film Festivals

Panorama, Berlinale 74th (World Premiere, WINNER Best First Feature Award), QCinema Film Festival - Netpac Award Best First Film, Sharjah Film Platform - Best Fiction Film, Alternativa Award - Future Voice Award, Festival du nouveau cinéma de Montréal - FIPRESCI Prize, Danang Asian Film Festival - Best Film, Jeonju IFF - Best Picture

Film labs

2016 / 2017 SEAFIC Lab X Produire Au Sud • 2016 Southeast Asian Film Lab (Singapore International Film Festival) • Talents Tokyo 2017

Awards

2017 Hubert Bals Script Development Fund • Purin Pictures Production Grant Winner 2018• Locarno Open Doors ARTE Kino International Prize • Locarno Open Doors Sørfond Award • Film Philippines Incentive Award 2019

Film markets

2016 Asian Project Market • 2017 Cannes Cinefondation L’Atelier • 2019 Locarno Open Doors Hub • 2019 Film Development Council of the Philippines Project Market 2019

Press

Variety - Vietnam’s Past and Present Mingle in Locarno’s ‘Cu Li Never Cries’