Glorious Ashes

Glorious Ashes (original title: Tro tàn rực rỡ) is a 2022 Vietnamese-language drama film directed and written by Bùi Thạc Chuyên. It is an adaptation of two short stories, Glorious Ashes (Tro tàn rực rỡ) and Drifting Firewood (Củi mục trôi về), taken from the Đảo (Island) short story collection by Vietnamese writer Nguyễn Ngọc Tư. The film has an ensemble cast including Lê Công Hoàng, Juliet Bảo Ngọc Doling, Phương Anh Đào, Ngô Quang Tuấn, Ngô Phạm Hạnh Thuý, Thạch Kim Long, Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Hiệp and Mai Thế Hiệp. Set in Thơm Rơm village of Cà Mau, the story revolves around three women, their journey of love and their efforts to keep their men. The imagery of fire and ashes appears throughout as a metaphor for the passion and longing of these women. Glorious Ashes surpassed 27 other projects to win the top prize of $15,000 at the Asian Project Market, a division of the Busan International Film Festival, in 2017. The film also won the Inaugural Southeast Asia Co-Production Grant by the Singapore Film Commission in November 2019. It was then premiered at the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival and became the first Vietnamese film to compete for the festival's top prize, the Tokyo Grand Prix, in October 2022. The film won the Montgolfière d'or at the 2022 Three Continents Festival, won four awards at the 2023 Kite Awards and five awards at the 23rd Vietnam Film Festival, including the Golden Lotus Prize. In Vietnam, Glorious Ashes opened in theaters nationwide on December 2, 2022. The film was chosen as the Vietnamese entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.