MALÀ - THE LITTLE ONE
Diana Cam Van Nguyen | 2017 | Czech Republic | 9’ | Animation
6TH EDITION
The story of a small girl Rong who lives in the Czech Republic as a foreigner. While growing up Rong experiences various unpleasant situations connected to her Vietnamese origin — looking different from the other children. Getting older Rong gains self-confidence and as an older sister she can even support her sister Lilly in the same struggles — she teaches her that being different does not mean being worse.
Diana Cam Van Nguyen is a Czech-Vietnamese director and art director based in Prague, Czech Republic. She did internships in Birmingham and Lyon and participated as artist in residence in Vienna MuseumsQuartier. Her graduation film, Malá/The Little One (2017), won several festival prizes and competed for the ECFA Doc Award at Berlinale 2019. Her next short, Spolu sami/Apart (2018), had its international premiere at IFF Rotterdam 2019 in the Voices Shorts section. It also competed at Annecy and the BFI London Film Festival, and was a finalist for the BAFTA Student Film Award 2019. Love, Dad (2021) premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, in the Pardi di Domani section. It was screened in the 5th edition of Ici Vietnam Festival Cinema. She is currently working on a feature-length animated film, Inbetween Worlds.