Nguyen Hoang Diep, a young Vietnamese director, has shown up at the 2014 Cannes International Film Festival, which is ongoing in France until Saturday, to present her film project’s success and inspire young, aspiring directors.

During her third trip to this year’s Cannes Festival, Diep, 32, was invited to join a seminar and press conference on Thursday.

She will also host an exchange with young film directors and producers selected this year by the Cannes “La Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde” (Filmmakers of the World) category, which also chose her film project, “Dap canh giua khong trung” (Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere) at the 2012 Cannes Festival.

As an “exemplary guest” in the category, Diep will discuss with young filmmakers about the opportunities and challenges she and her project went through, including seeking sponsorship and the making of her debut feature.

Back in 2012, as Diep took her film project to the Cannes Festival at the invitation of the La Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde organizers, she only aimed at seeking co-producers from Europe, particularly France.

Producer Thierry Lenouvel, of Paris-based Cine-Sud Promotion, one of Europe’s most prolific co-producers with Latin America, agreed to be Diep’s co-producer on condition that within one year, her film project would apply to four major European film funds, and get sponsored by at least two of them, which is quite a far-fetched goal for a young director’s debut film.

To everyone’s surprise, within only one year, Diep’s “Dap canh giua khong trung” got approved by four major funds: Berlinale International Film Festival’s World Cinema Fund of Germany, Cannes International Film Festival’s World Cinema Support of France, Norway’s Sorfund – the largest film fund in North Europe – and France’s Fonds francophone de production audiovisuelle du Sud.

The flick also received funding from the Danish Vietnamese Cultural Development and Exchange Fund, the U.S.’s Global Film Initiative, and Vietnam’s A&C Fund.

In August 2013, she began filming her project with a huge investment which her filmmaking friends joked would make an “art blockbuster.”

The film is expected to be finished this August and compete at the 2015 Venice and Berlinale Film Festivals.

At this year’s Cannes, Diep will also step on the Cannes Red Carpet to join several film public screenings, a party exclusively for members of the 2014 Cannes Producer Network, and interviews, particularly those to express her support for Norwegian filmmakers in struggling to maintain the Norwegian government’s fund earmarked for Sorfund.

Diep revealed that she has won US$13,000 for her other project on a filmmaker workshop she plans to jointly hold with local company VBLOCK Media.

The director, however, added that lots of work remains to be done as the minimal expense to hold such an event is estimated at $30,000.

The young Vietnamese was first invited to the 2012 Cannes as the producer of internationally-winning film, “Bi, dung so” (Bi, Don’t Be Afraid).

She joined the 2012 Cannes’s Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde category with “Dap canh giua khong trung.”

One of her short films (Hai – Tu – Sau) (Monday- Wednesday- Friday) was also selected for the Cannes Court Metrage (Cannes Short Film Corner) category that year.

Diep’s other works include well-loved teen TV dramas “Chit va Pi” (Chit and Pi) and “Bo tu 10A8” (The 10A8 Quartet).

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