Vietnamese Cinema for Libraries Catalog

A landmark Southeast Asia film subtitling project has reached completion. Through a multi-year collaboration between the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at the University of Hawai’i-Mānoa (UHM) and the Viện Phim Việt Nam (Vietnam Film Institute – VFI) in Hanoi, more than 70 classic Vietnamese feature films have been digitized, translated, and subtitled in English. Foundational support for this project was provided through CSEAS’s designation as a U.S. Department of Education (USED) Title VI National Resource Center (NRC).

CSEAS launched a Southeast Asian film subtitling and translation course at UHM in 2007. The course created by former CSEAS associate director Paul Rausch and taught by John McGlynn (Lontar Foundation – Jakarta) trained students with advanced Southeast Asian language skills to translate and subtitle Southeast Asian films. Vietnamese cinema quickly emerged as one of the most active and impactful components of this program, providing the focus for a long-term film translation and subtitling effort.

This film catalog spans the years 1959 to 2010 and includes works that reflect major artistic, cultural, and political periods in Vietnamese cinema. This collection contains the films of Phạm Văn Khoa, Phạm Kỳ Nam, Bạch Diệp, Đặng Nhật Minh, Phạm Nhuệ Giang, Việt Linh, Nguyễn Thanh Vân, Lưu Trọng Ninh, Nguyễn Hải Ninh, Khôi Nguyên (Lê Hoàng Hoa), Trần Vũ, Bùi Thạc Chuyên, Lưu Huỳnh, and Lê Hoàng, to name only a few of Vietnam’s prominent directors included in this catalog.

The objective of this film project is to provide libraries with a comprehensive Vietnamese film resource that will allow educators and film researchers to access classic Vietnamese feature films with English subtitles. The films are formatted for streaming on laptops, desktop computers, and hand-held devices as MP4 and M4V files. Most of the films in this collection are not formatted for theatres, film festivals, and large auditorium screenings.

In support of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all efforts were made to include captioning aside from the subtitles to enrich the viewing experience for the hearing impaired.

This film catalog is available for purchase by libraries in support of the archival film work at the Vietnam Film Institute (VFI). Library collections and acquisitions specialists can contact vietnamcinemalibrary@gmail.com for more information on how to purchase this catalog of film and its accompanying metadata.

To access the complete list of films with a synopsis, click here

Films used by permission of the Vietnam Film Institute (VFI), Hanoi, Vietnam.

Films and Subtitles © VFI 2026. All rights reserved.

Special Thanks / Cảm ơn nhiều

• Viện Phim Việt Nam (Vietnam Film Institute – VFI)
• VFI Director, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Lan
• VFI Director, Mr. Đào Quốc Hùng
• VFI Director, Mr. Vũ Nguyên Hùng
• VFI Director, Ms. Lê Thị Hà
• Ms. Hoàng Thị Mai
• Cảm ơn nhiều USDOE
• Cheryl Gibbs (International Foreign Language Education)
• Cảm ơn nhiều UHM
• Dr. Barbara Watson Andaya
• Dr. Pia Arboleda
• Florence K. Lamoureux
• John H. McGlynn (translation instructor)
• Dr. Stephen O’Harrow
• Rohayati Paseng
• Dr. Kirstin Pauka
• Frank Smith (translation instructor)
• Dr. Miriam Stark
• Myra Yamamoto
• Cảm ơn nhiều to the translators
• Dr. Lê Vinh Hoa
• Dr. Leon Potter
• Thang Nguyễn Carpenter
• Peyton Standefer
• Dr. Jennie Tran
• Giang-Chau Truong
• Nguyễn Le
• Truong Van
• Dr. Thuy Bui
• Thai Nguyễn
• Hoan Nguyễn
• Dr. Huy V. Phung