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French war reporter to make film on Vietnamese colleagues

French war reporter to make film on Vietnamese colleagues

Tuesday, June 18, 2013, 11:38 GMT+7

War reporter Patrick Chauvel, who has covered around 20 conflicts around the world, is in Vietnam on his tenth trip to the country where he took the first steps into the job he calls destiny.

“As a photographer, you’re destiny is written in the sky”

The 64-year-old photographer, writer, director and reporter, who was honored by the famed World Press Photo Prize in 1995, has been in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to screen his famous documentary titled “Rapporteurs de geuerre” (War Reporters) at the European – Vietnam Documentary Festival held in the cities. According to Chauvel, his movie has received a perfect reaction from audiences, who asked him a lot of questions about war reporters’ involvement in their business.

“I made this film for people who are interested in photographers,” Chauvel explained as the reason he made the documentary while talking to Tuoitrenews. “In 1998, I followed my photographer friends to cover wars and I used to film just for fun, as a souvenir. One day, I looked at the film and I thought I should do the film on the men behind the photos.”

Born to a family with several members involved in the Vietnam War, Chauvel said he was inspired by his uncle, Pierre Schoendoerffer, who was a cameraman covering the battle at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Chauvel was fascinated with his stories of the war. Then Chauvel, 18 at that time, decided to discover Vietnam himself.

“When you’re 18, everything is important, and joining the war is super important. For me, Saigon and the war in Vietnam changed me from a boy to a man, from a photographer to a professional photographer,” Chauvel recalled from the time he first landed in Saigon. “Here, I just opened my eyes and my camera and then became a reporter.”

A memory which Chauvel called unforgettable came in 1968 during the war with America, when he came across a battle in Cho Lon and ran into a Viet Cong soldier.

“We fell. His gun and my camera fell down. And I shouted “Pháp! Pháp!” (French in Vietnamese) and the soldier let me go. The words that I had quickly learned from the waiter at the hotel I stayed in saved my life,” he remembered.

However, the 64-year-old photographer, who has seen many friends and colleges disappear, and who was once injured himself, is still doing the job and confirmed that he doesn’t mind the danger, but he does mind losing his friends.

“It was a fantastic experience, it was hard sometimes though, many friends of mine died,” Chauvel shared. “As a photographer, you’re destiny is written in the sky.”

Chuavel also said his family was very connected to Vietnam throughout history.

“My uncle was here during the war with the French and after that I was also here. My grandfather was a diplomat in 1954. In my family, Vietnam and France are very closely related by the history. Nearly everybody in my family has something to do with the Vietnam War.”

In 1990, Chauvel and his uncle, Pierre Schoendoerffer, returned to Vietnam to make the film titled “Dien Bien Phu.” The movie starred 4,000 actors and took six months of work in Hanoi.

It's time for Vietnamese war photographers to be honored

On his most recent visit to Vietnam, Chauvel also shared his plan to make a documentary on Vietnamese photographers, who did great work but remain unknown, he said. This will be the third documentary he has made on war photographers, besides “Rapporteurs de geuerre” and another movie named “Mirror of War.”

According to him, the Vietnamese photographers did the same work that photographers from other countries did during the Vietnam War. Nevertheless, a lot of American and English photographers during the war achieved fame, while few Vietnamese photographers became famous.

“In Europe and America, we only may know two or three names of the Vietnamese photographers and we certainly do not know the photographers from the North. Most of the famous guys we know are South Vietnamese photographers who were working with the American press,” Chauvel said.

“So I decided to do a film on these people who witnessed the war and worked side by side with us. They didn’t get the same light. So it’s time to show for the young photographers and the public in France, England and America who they are.”

DONG NGUYEN

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