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PRESS RELEASE WATCH THE TRAILER

A DREAM IN HANOI
A True Story of Love, Stage Fright and Noodle Soup

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At Film Festivals in 2002

Moira and DateLine Productions announce the release of their feature documentary film, A DREAM IN HANOI, to be presented at national and international film festivals in 2002. Written, produced and directed by award-winning independent filmmaker, Tom Weidlinger, (Boys Will Be Men, After the Velvet Revolution, Making Peace) and narrated by F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus, Finding Forrester) the film is the first American documentary about American/Vietnamese relations that does not focus on the Vietnam war or its legacy of human suffering.

A DREAM IN HANOI tells the story of two theater companies, one American and one Vietnamese, as they come together to stage the first performance in Vietnam of Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This spirited tale follows the actors, directors, producers and technicians from both countries as they struggle to surmount the huge obstacles of language, culture, ideology, and a history of war on their journey to opening night at Hanoi’s famous Opera House. The film features Vietnam's renowned theater, the Central Dramatic Company of Vietnam, and actors and staff from the Artists Repertory Theater in Portland, Oregon. Music is performed by artists of Vietnam’s National Theater of Music and Dance and the Cheo Theater of Hanoi. In English and Vietnamese with English subtitles.

A DREAM IN HANOI  premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival in June, where it garnered excellent reviews.  The Seattle Post Intelligencer selected the film as one of its twelve “best picks” from the Seattle festival and Variety gave it a rave review, calling it “a lovingly crafted and tremendously moving record...”   In Portland, a reviewer for The Asian Reporter wrote “I feel honored by the chance to write this review...” 

The film  has been  invited to participate in the Spotlight on Documentaries division of New York's international IFP Film Market.  In the fall of 2002 it will be featured at the Mill Valley, Hawaii International, Oslo/Films From the South, Film Arts, and United Nations Association Festivals.  On November 15th it opens in the Bay Area at two Landmark theaters, the Opera Plaza and the Shattuck.