Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Stephane Gauger characterises himself as aVietnamese-American with European influences: his mother is Vietnamese, he grewup in America and he has spent time in Europe visiting extendedfamily in France.

For him, making films in Vietnam offers him a chance to discover hisroots. 

“I’m really a fusion. And, with this fusion, I try to put it in my work. So inmy writing, in my material, it’s not specifically Vietnamese, not specificallyAmerican. Hopefully it’s more global, more universal.”

Gauger, 47, is a writer-director based in Los Angeles. He made his featuredebut with the award-winning Vietnam-set drama Owl and the Sparrow(2007), which earned him both Gotham and Independent Spirit Awardnominations. He followed it up with the urban drama Saigon Electric(2011). He also directed the 2008 documentary VietnamOvertures and co-wrote Powder Blue, a 2009 feature starringJessica Biel, Eddie Redmayne and Forest Whitaker.

He was named one of Filmmaker magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Filmin 2007.

His films have been presented at many international film festivals.

Recently, he returned with the latest film Yeu Di, Dung So! (Kiss and Spell).The film is currently available at CGV cinemas nationwide.

It’s a Vietnamese romantic comedy about a magician who is afraid of ghosts andthen falls in love with a girl who appears to have some connection to thesupernatural. It is a remake of the Republic of Korea’s Spellbound.

“I’m happy to come back to Vietnam to present the film,” said Gauger.

“I just want to make a good film, which can touch audience’s hearts. That’s thereason and motivation for me to try everyday.” 

From zero to hero

Gauger started his filmmaking career running errands supporting filmcrews suchas lighting and camera departments. Then he got a chance to know producers anddirectors like Ham Tran and Timothy Bui. He began working on thepost-production of many films such as Dong Mau Anh Hung (The Rebel) and Co HauGai (The Housemaid) that helped him earn experience for his own works.

Gauger admitted he’d rather be making movies than talking about them. He wrotescripts and made short films for six years, waiting to find an opportunity tomake a film in Vietnam.

“Though I don’t settle in Vietnam, I return to the country regularly,” saidGauger.

“I understand each corner, each vendor that I try to bring them into my films.You can see the familiar images in the film Kiss and Spell.”

Gauger said though the film is made from a Korean script, audiences will see itas purely Vietnamese.

Gauger visited Vietnam for the first time in 2006. Now he has witnessed manychanges in the society and in his mind as well. He can speak Vietnamesefluently and feels that he’s a member of the country, not an outsider.

He wants to make more films about Vietnamese people of all walks of life.

“I befriended a lot of girls selling flowers in HCM City, and I justthought they were adorable, and they had great stories of why they were doingwhat they were doing.”

“People tend to think that’s depressing for children to be selling things onthe streets in a Third World country like Vietnam. It’s actually not. They’requite jubilant children, and they’re just smart and savvy because they have tosell at such a young age to buy schoolbooks or whatever.”

Gauger said he has become familiar with HCM City. For him, thepeaceful landscape and girls in traditional dresses are so popular that theyhave become trite images. He wants to capture the feverish energy and neonnights, keeping the cameras always moving to capture the sense of "Wow,there is a lot going on here,” he said.-VNA