OWL AND THE SPARROW
OREGON PREMIERE!
Directed by Stephane Gauger
Vietnam, 97 mins.
Drama/Foreign
Saturday, 12:00 PM, Salem Cinema
Filmmaker Stephane Gauger in Attendance!
With its sweet nature and old-fashioned charm, Owl and the Sparrow follows a trio of characters through their innate desire to find connection amid the bustling and disconnect of modern-day Saigon. Thuy is a feisty 10-year-old runaway who scrapes by selling flowers on the street, befriending new people and keeping up with the hectic daily pace. Lan is a flight attendant, sophisticated, constantly on the go, and juggling an affair that her heart is fighting. Hai cares for the animals at the local zoo, nursing a broken heart over a recent split with his fiancée. With a deft eye and graceful intimacy, director Stephane Gauger remarkably captures the bright-eyed innocence as Thuy wisely recognizes these two lonely souls and sets out to lace their lives together in small and simple ways. The unexpected depth that the characters emulate as they slowly unfold from within and are drawn together conveys a wondrous, hopeful spirit.
Shown in partnership with Chemeketa Community CollegeFilmography: First Feature
Awards: Big Apple Film Festival; Denver International Film Festival Emerging Filmmaker Award; Hawaii International Film Festival Netpac Award; Los Angeles Film Festival Audience Award; San Diego Asian Film Festival Jury Award; San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival Jury Award
Showing with the short film
Windows Masks Doors
Directed by Sarah Orenstein
United States, 5 mins.Devices that enhance and block our vision are playfully at odds in this animated short as a conductor tunes a medley of tracks revealing masked players hidden within an old radio.
Stephane Gauger (Director)
Born in Saigon, Vietnam and raised in Orange County, California, Mr. Gauger received a bachelor arts degree in theatre and french literature at Cal State Fullerton. Mr. Gauger subsequenly worked in the camera and lighting departments on independent films in the U.S. and Southeast Asia, including Three Seasons, Green Dragon , and Journey From The Fall , all the while honing his writing and directing craft on short films. Mr. Gauger was featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 new faces of 2007. He was also nominated for breakthrough director at the Gotham Awards and the John Cassavetes award at Independent Spirit Awards and is now forming a film distribution company with directors Timothy Bui and Ham Tran to showcase Vietnamese content films.
