Thanks to the guidance of ideas that many people used to say were “unrealistic dreams”… I was destined to be associated with the Seventh Art…
From personal interests to Heart Mission.
What should we do about the youth? This is the first question for our film project.
The first stories about the youth we approached were the backpacking trips shared on social networks…which made us decide to make a film about a challenging and meaningful backpacking trip of a group of young men and women…
The next question was “Besides personal passion, what are the youth doing for the community?” which led us to other emotional stories about the youth, which are stories about charity and volunteering. From the uniforms of soldiers, students to teachers, young doctors…there are many people who have been and are not afraid of difficulties, bringing their youth and passionate hearts to help places in need.
All of these things have brought us special emotions to be determined to carry out the HEART MISSION.
Where is the temporary school that needs help?
With the desire to have a beautiful story in a beautiful and real place, we ignored the filming options and excitedly set out to find places somewhere in the Central Highlands.
The four days of the April 30 and May 1 holidays were meaningful to us when we saw the beautiful scenery of the Central Highlands, the ethnic villages that are still in difficulty, the dirt roads, the poor schools... because before that, everything was only in the script.
But when we returned to Ho Chi Minh City to finalize the scene, the Director asked, "Is the old school in the ethnic village that we are going to the most difficult school that needs help?" And when we found pictures on the internet of the temporary school with wooden walls and thatched roofs... we knew that we needed to continue on our journey...
Arriving in the most difficult district of Dak Lak province, we asked about the most difficult commune and the most difficult school. The head of the Krong Bong district education department enthusiastically showed us the way, but his eyes were doubtful when he told us the last sentence: the road from the commune to the temporary school is very difficult to travel, from the suspension bridge you can only go by motorbike, many volunteer groups go on a reconnaissance trip and then never come back to help. But he was hopeful again when we quickly set off in the hot noon sun without paying any attention to the difficulties he warned us about. It turned out that the suspension bridge across the stream to the temporary school was too old, so the local authorities put up barriers, only allowing cars and motorbikes to pass, so the passenger vans carrying volunteer groups could not enter as the head of the department had said. We followed the local people's instructions, went through 5km of bumpy and winding dirt road, and finally arrived at the temporary school with wooden walls... The director said: this is the place, we will film here!
Elephants, buffaloes, cows and horses in the Central Highlands
Our initial idea was that it would be easy to find the elephants and horses we wanted in the Central Highlands. But we started to worry when we saw only cows on the way, lots of cows, a herd of several hundred, walking along the road into the villages and hamlets. When we asked the locals, we learned that 10 years ago, people started selling all their horses because they were not economically efficient, leaving only a few grass horses to carry goods. When we asked about elephants, we were told: there are no more forests to haul wood, all the elephants have been sold!
A little hope for us when we asked the old motorbike taxi driver, he enthusiastically led us to meet a man he called “Long Voi”, the owner of the most elephants and horses in the Central Highlands.
We were overjoyed when Mr. Long showed us where to see the horses. There were indeed horses! But all the horses had been brought to tourist areas to serve visitors, they could only trot, not gallop as in the scenario.
After asking around, the only place where horses can gallop is Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu’s horse farm. We did not mind the long distance, we went to Mr. Vu’s horse farm in M’Drak – Dak Lak. But all our efforts to persuade him still did not get the nod from the horse farm’s CEO and Mr. Vu.
The film has started shooting, the scene with the horse must be arranged to be filmed later to have more time to find and hope for Mr. Vu’s consent. When the filming schedule could not be delayed any longer and we still did not have the horse we wanted, we had to choose the best horse among the trotting horses. And the whole crew had to worry a lot when the horse fainted… because it had to do the work of a galloping horse.
We can take care of a horse: hire a truck to carry the group, hire a horseman to take care of it, if there is any injury or incident, we can compensate. An elephant is very different: weight is measured in tons, daily food is measured in quintals, value is measured in billions of dong, must always go in pairs to get on and off trucks.
Luckily for us, in reality, the people of the Central Highlands no longer use elephants to pull things like in the script. So we used buffaloes instead of elephants, which is both realistic and less worrying.
Not only did we make a film, we experienced the culture of elephants, buffaloes, cows, and horses of the Central Highlands.
Unknown things about ethnic minorities
Throughout the filming process, we had to thank many ethnic minorities for their help, from district and commune officials to village chiefs and ordinary people.
Also through this filming trip MISSION OF THE HEART, we also experienced unexpected things about them:
The first ethnic minority we met during the filming journey was a young man washing his car at the gate of his house. The young man had to introduce himself to us before we knew he was an ethnic minority. He turned around and recognized director Duc Thinh. He greeted us politely and gave us directions enthusiastically. Ethnic minorities now have no shortage of rich people, houses on the street, and civilized living!
Asking for directions to the village chief's house, we were given very enthusiastic directions by the locals. The village chief's house had no fence, no gate, the main and side doors were both open... but no one was home. We called out loudly and the neighbors said: Waiting for the village chief's wife to come home soon. After waiting for a while, we saw a woman bringing 5 children back, before she could enter the house, she took the 5 children away, we didn't have time to ask anything. A while later, a middle-aged man came back, holding a knife in his hand, his pants dirty, and sweaty, we guessed that he had left his work when he was informed of our arrival. The village chief immediately talked to us, communicated very moderately, and made decisions very quickly and happily in all discussions, including calculations related to money. Everything we needed to ask for help was agreed upon at a reasonable cost. Ethnic people are very good at negotiating now!
When we needed to borrow a house for filming, there was a family that was initially very welcoming, creating a very easy feeling, but when the design was almost finished, and the filming date was near, they demanded that the crew pay a very high fee, higher than the urban scenes. But there are also families whose owners are drunk and at first make it difficult for them to cooperate, but when they promise to give them a case of beer, they are happy and let them use their house freely for a very low fee. There are families who absolutely do not let them cut down bamboo bushes at any cost, with the reason being “to let the buffalo lie down in the cool air”. After asking carefully, we find out that this family’s buffalo is a buffalo that goes to the forest to earn money, and what the film crew can pay to cut down its bamboo bushes for relaxation is not worth it… Ethnic people nowadays are very pragmatic!
The Stream in the Dream
One of the most important main scenes is a long stream with a clear view, in the distance are mountains, nearby is a large, flat, empty land, clear water flowing...
None of us have seen such a stream in real life, all of us have only seen the picture the director found on the internet but did not note the location.
In the early days, we searched in the direction of the waterfalls flowing down, there were a few streams but could not film.
While in difficulty, planning to choose an alternative plan, there was hope when the group met at a cafe in Lak district town: a group of young people were drinking (strangely, here they also drink in cafes), discovered director Duc Thinh, immediately brought beer to invite us to interact and told about the little-known stream...
The next morning we woke up early, excitedly going to see the stream following the instructions of the group of young people. The stream was really beautiful, the water was clear, flowing long, there was a large open area next to it, but it lacked mountains in the distance and many electric wires that people had crossed. The director said "not yet" with regret. We all felt regretful but still hoped that there were other streams somewhere that the locals we asked didn't know about.
The scenes related to the stream were arranged to be filmed later so that we would have time to continue searching.
We traveled a lot, studied the map, asked many tour guides, asked many local people, but for the next half month we still didn't have a stream to film. During this time, the image of the stream often appeared in the dreams of the leader of the crew.
On the day that the stream was a must, otherwise the whole crew would have to rest because the other scenes had been filmed, we looked at the map again, there was only one place we hadn't been to, there was no indication of any water source or waterfall in this area but we still went. And the miracle happened, where we least expected it, there was a perfect stream hidden, satisfying all the criteria of the scenario. The director secretly exclaimed, “This is truly the stream of our dreams!”.
There is always a way to go
When the director decided to choose the temporary school for filming, we were also worried about the transportation and accommodation of the crew of more than 80 people to the filming location.
Trucks and buses definitely cannot cross the suspension bridge. The only way left was to cross the stream.
In fact, local trucks and tractors still cross the stream using a homemade stone embankment on the side below the suspension bridge. But the way down to the embankment is very steep and bumpy. It was the beginning of the rainy season, so the muddy water overflowed the embankment, reaching more than half the wheel. So all the truck and bus drivers of the crew did not dare to cross.
We knew that we needed to widen and flatten the road down, raise the embankment to be higher to see the road... but looking around at the mountains and ethnic villages, where are the resources to do it quickly? Someone thought of a plan to change the filming location.
It is true that “there is always a way to go”: asking around the people in the town we had just met, we were introduced to Mr. Muoi, who could operate excavators and large truck that specialized in going through the forest in this area. So after half a day, we finished clearing the road down to the embankment. But there was no source of rocks to raise the embankment. Finally, following the advice of the local truck driver, the large truck of the local people would go first and pull the vehicles of the group behind. Only then did the drivers of the group agree to bring the vehicles down to the embankment… And slowly, one by one, the whole group crossed the stream safely.
Of course, the vehicles crossing the stream would stay at the filming location for the following days until filming was finished, and the drivers had to sleep in the temporary school overnight…
Craving hot baths
The main filming scenes were all in poor districts of Dak Lak province, so we had to gather all the motels in Krong Kmar town to have enough accommodation for the whole crew, and we had to share cramped accommodation.
In Krong Bong, the sun was hot during the day and it was cold at night. The crew had to leave early and return late because the filming location was 30-40km away from the accommodation, and many times we had to film overnight. So when we returned to our rooms, everyone wanted to take a hot bath. However, only a few rooms in the motels had hot water.
There was a time when a crew member really needed a bath but felt too tired to take a cold bath and wanted to go back to Ho Chi Minh City. But when it was suggested that the crew buy an electric kettle to boil hot water... they kept quiet, pursed their lips and bathed, not wanting to go back.
We understand the craving for a hot bath (sometimes more than other needs) of many crew members, so we are truly grateful to everyone for trying to overcome it.
Suspension Bridge
The suspension bridge was originally just a barrier to the crew's vehicles entering the filming location.
During the filming days at the temporary school, the whole crew kept going there and coming back at night, and then they became familiar with it. Then the director developed feelings for it, discovered that it bore the mark of time, was closely associated with the lives of ethnic minorities in this remote place, and was quietly beautiful in the mountains. And then the director decided to adjust the script so that the image of the bridge could reach more people.
The bridge suspended actress Angela Phuong Trinh (as teacher Phong Linh in the film) to perform a very impressive stunt scene.
True "backpackers"
The most romantic scene of the film we wanted would be in the most unique place. Of course, from the beginning, we didn’t know where that scene was, we just looked it up on the internet and imagined the two main characters kissing on a cliff, with a beautiful valley below and layers of mountains in the distance…
Beautiful and unique scenes are of course very difficult to find, so difficult that we searched from before the script was finished until we finished filming all the other scenes of the film… and still couldn’t find it.
Although we knew there was a very beautiful and famous cliff in the Northwest, we wanted more than that, it had to be a place that few people had set foot on. So we decided to close the film while still owing this scene.
Like true "backpackers", we searched all the places with mountains in Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Binh Thuan, Kon Tum. The effort was also rewarded when we had hope in Duc Trong, Lam Dong pronvince: Uncle Nam, the owner of Khanh Vy Guesthouse, shared that several backpackers had stayed here, they called it "Lonely Hill", in fact it was a mountain peak, not a hill, it was said to be very beautiful but the road was far and very difficult to get to, had to go through the forest without telephone lines, climb a mountain over a thousand meters high with no road for vehicles...
We did not pay attention to the warnings of difficulty but enthusiastically asked and set off, thinking at that time was very simple, if backpackers can go, we can go, the important thing is that there is beautiful and unique scenery.
The last guide for us was a middle-aged man from an ethnic minority group, he had just come out of the forest, full of experience: walk to the foot of the mountain for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, climb to the first peak for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, hurry up, don't rest too much or you will not be able to get down the mountain, get out of the forest in time, getting stuck in there is death, there are no people in there, no phone signal, there are also some backpackers who spend the night on the top but have to bring tents, food and firewood to warm themselves...
Ignoring the warnings of difficulty, we finally arrived at the first peak, then the second peak. We were truly rewarded because the scenery was breathtaking, converging everything we wanted. But this was also the moment we were most worried about during the entire filming process: how to get the whole crew and equipment to the top, film during the day and get down the mountain, get out of the forest in time before the sunlight ran out!?
Our plan for this scene only got a chance to work when we saw a group of locals using homemade motorbikes with a rugged iron frame and chain-wrapped wheels to move into the forest, climbing the mountain along small grooves that fit the wheels.
When we found someone who could gather about 20 homemade motorbikes of the ethnic minorities in this area who agreed to carry people and goods to the top of the mountain… then we were determined to film this scene. We would all become real "backpackers"!
On the Lonely Peak (Clip of the beauty on the Lonely Hill)
The day of filming the scene on the top of “Lonely Hill” was a special and memorable day, with many emotions for all members of the film crew.
Those who did not participate in the previous scouting session could not imagine what they were about to experience.
Many members were bewildered when they saw the homemade motorbikes, with strange emotions, excitement, nervousness, and apprehension mixed together when they tied up the equipment and sat on the iron frames temporarily lined with cardboard or some leaves. In a few minutes, we became a “professional backpacking team”, ready to experience the long, bumpy, steep road…
A favorable start when the whole group reached the top safely. The beautiful scenery eased the body aches of the members after nearly 2 hours sitting on the iron frame, sometimes having to get off the car and climb, sometimes having to pull their knees up to their ears... Only the horse remained, the only way was for 2 jockeys and 1 crew member to walk and climb with him for 4 hours and 30 minutes.
But when they helped the horse up to the highest peak, it started to rain. The whole crew used everything they had to cover the rain, and let the wind blow... We thought that such a strong wind would quickly blow the clouds away and stop the rain soon. But after an hour it still hadn't stopped. Many members were shivering from the cold. We were all silent, no one said anything. The director and the production manager occasionally stepped out in the rain to look at the horizon, praying for the dark clouds to clear up soon. The backup plan of camping overnight would not be feasible if it rained and was windy. Only then did we suddenly remember that people called this place "Lonely Hill". It was truly lonely! There were nearly 40 of us, but we were huddled on the top of a mountain over a thousand meters high, surrounded by forests and mountains with no houses in all directions, unable to move because of the rain and wind, and unable to ask for support from the community because there was no phone signal…
Luckily for us, after more than an hour, the rain and wind stopped and the sun came out. No one in the group said anything, but we all knew that there was not much time left, so we all quickly went to our positions to work, certainly no one wanted to spend the night here…
At 5:15 p.m. we finished our work, although we had had a tiring day, at this point no one seemed to remember because we all had to pack up our belongings and equipment as quickly as possible to get down the mountain and through the forest while there was still sunlight. When the sunlight completely disappeared, we had just escaped the forest on the mountain. Nearly 10km from the foot of the mountain to the gathering place, we were once again alone in the dark, relying on flashlights and the driver's experience. Luck came to us once again when the whole crew returned to the gathering place safely after more than 2 hours of experiencing slippery roads, falling and darkness.
A difficult MISSION requires a passionate HEART
When the filming of the film was completed, looking back at what had been experienced, the MISSION OF THE HEART was no longer just for the characters in the film, but it was also truly for the members of the film crew.
Everyone knows that the final images of the film released to the audience are only 90 minutes long, unable to share all the months of hard work of nearly 100 passionate hearts. So these diary entries are very much hoped to reach as many audiences as possible.
But if these things have not reached everyone who wants to know, that's okay. The important thing is that the filmmakers know that they have carried out difficult MISSIONS with a passionate HEART.
(Watch the movie MISSION OF THE HEART here)
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