Vietnamese-French film director Tran Anh Hung, who recently returned to Vietnam to teach a directing course to young local filmmakers, is optimistic about his young colleagues’ potential.

He was the main lecturer during the “Gap go mua thu” (Meet the autumn) course last month in which he shared his passion, knowledge and experience on filmmaking to help the students improve their film projects.

“Young people often raise many questions, and they expect good answers for them. I’m not sure if I was able to satisfy them all with my answers, but at least I created some space to share my thoughts and inspiration, which hopefully can help them in one way or another,” shared Hung.

The 52-year-old director remarked that unlike Bui Thac Chuyen and Phan Dang Di, who have gained worldwide attention with their films “Song trong so hai” (Living in fear) and “Bi, dung so” (Bi, don’t be afraid) respectively, many of today’s filmmakers are younger in age, have limited experience and are sometimes quite extreme in their approach.

Hung added, “My job is to help them know which of their ideas are cinematic and which can set them in traps. Meanwhile, I really appreciate their youthfulness and extremity, which make me feel much younger.”

He noted that one of the traps they typically fall for is their tendency to use symbolism. Another trap is their rashness, which keeps them from delving deep into their ideas.

“We really appreciate Hung’s contributions to the training of young local directors. It’s a good signal for the feebling local movie industry,” remarked local director Nguyen Vinh Son.

Hung himself has been nurturing his own two projects for some four years. One is the film adaptation of “Heat” by Bill Buford, which recounts how a protagonist becomes a famed chef.

The other is “Eternite” (Eternity), a deeply moving story on a French family spanning some hundred years. It brings into focus the intolerable grief a woman living in the 18th century suffers by losing five of her eight children one by one.

Hung has long been considered at the forefront of the wave of overseas Vietnamese cinema in the past two decades.

His films, which are profound contemplations on life in Vietnam, are both critically and commercially successful.

His debut, “Mui du du xanh” (The Scent of Green Papaya), earned the Caméra d'Or  prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, a César Award for Best Debut at the French annual film award ceremony and remains the only Vietnamese-made film to be shortlisted for the 1993 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film so far.

His next film, Xich lo (Cyclo), which starred top Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu Wai, also pocketed a top prize at the 1995 Venice International Film Festival.

Hung’s “Mua he chieu thang dung” (The vertical ray of the sun) was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, and he also adapted the well-loved “Norwegian Wood” by Japanese author Haruki Murakami into film, which was r eleased in Japan in late 2010.

Hung also sat on the Cannes jury in 1996.