University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa students played a central role in a landmark Southeast Asian film project now completed after years of collaboration. Through a partnership led by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) and the Vietnam Film Institute in Hanoi, more than 70 classic Vietnamese feature films have been digitized and subtitled in English.
The work began in the classroom. In 2007, CSEAS launched a film translation and subtitling course that trained UH Mānoa students with advanced Southeast Asian language skills. Students translated dialogue, timed subtitles and helped prepare films for international viewing. Their work laid the foundation for a long-term effort focused on Vietnamese cinema. Former CSEAS associate director Paul Rausch created the course which was taught by John McGlynn.
Over time, the project grew into one of the program’s most active collaborations. The resulting catalog spans films released between 1959 and 2010.
The films are formatted for streaming on laptops, desktop computers and handheld devices. They are intended for libraries and classrooms, not large theaters or festivals. To support viewers who are hearing impaired, captioning was added alongside English subtitles.
Foundational support for this project was provided through CSEAS‘s designation as a U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center.
For more on the catalog email vietnamcinemalibrary@gmail.com. Go to the CSEAS website for the full story.
—By Motoki Saito Yamamori
