Good Morning and Good Night

The story of “Good Morning, And Good Night!” has been developed based on my personal experience after living in Saigon for 14 years. I came to this city with an old-fashioned heart spending time to discover the beauty of the past. I love acting like a traveller walking around the historic centre, let myself wander in the alleys and taste a fried banana cake at a street corner. I love to talk with mid-age men & women I randomly met on the way and asked them about how did Saigon look like 30 or 40 years ago.

 In 2015, I had chance to talk with an old Britain man in a vintage coffee shop at the backpacker area. He had visited Saigon many times since 1990s. Every time he came back to the city, he realized that some old buildings had been replaced by skyscrapers or shopping centres. He told me that “I think this is the last time I visit your city. I don’t want to miss something when I discover that it has been destroyed by somebody...I love this city so much, and I hate to see the way it's forced to become right now”.

His thought has inspired me to think about making a movie for the going-to-be-missed things in our daily life. It can be a mid-century bridge, a pagoda’s sunny backyard, a wooden bench in a church for Hoa people, an indie song being played through a Sony cassette in a coffee shop, an empty seat on the bus to Ben Thanh market or simply a lovely strange person I only met once in life. Those little things have to be told or they will die. And when they die, I won’t be able to remember who I am, how I feel and why I stay in this world.

I know I have to capture them with a heart-warming story before they’re faded in my memory as time goes by. I know I will let the characters sing out their feeling, because I am a music lover. I know I will tell this story like a journey with full of love for life, passion for dreams, rhythm for the hearts, pain for the past and hope for the future.