Mala Hanoj (Little Hanoi) Documentary Czech Republic / Germany / Slovakia, 2012, 75 min, Trailer (2:43 min)
Mala Hanoj is a story about Chung and Nguyet, two girls from Vietnam, who came to exotic Czech Republic for wealth and luck.
Once the small village Dubi near German- Czech border was buzzing. Vietnamese traders sold garden gnomes, cigarettes and cheap Schnaps to German tourists.
The big trading places along the road where almost like a small city of their own. The Vietnamese sellers had there everything they needed: work, friends and Karaoke.
Chung (Lida) came from Vietnam to Czech Republic when she was 12. Her 2 years older friend Nguyet (Miluska) moved to Czechia in the same year. Both came without their parents but they got a Czech grandmother who taught the children how to speak, act and eat in exotic Czech republic. After some months in a Czech school they started working at the market place. But the economic base of this street trade was put into question after a new motor highway was opened. Travellers stopped to pass by and the economic crisis and EU enlargement made the situation worse. For the Vietnamese traders a time of reorientation began. Chung and Nguyet where young adults now, about to start a family and now beeing forced to reconsider where they belong and which way to turn. The film documents the steps that the friends Chung and Nguyet undertake in order to create a new perspective for themselves. Their live is a roller coaster of chancing it with a casino, massage lounge, original Czech tavern, 24/7 grocery and getting adult. Over the course of 7 years “Mala Hanoj” follows the protagonists, giving a never before seen insight on the culture of the Vietnamese migrants in post-communist countries in Europe and its different facets.
The successful film documentary was directed by a young Slovak director Martina Saková; Klub Hanoi was happy to help her by providing advice and contacts during the filming as well as translating and creating subtitles at the end. The film premiered in the Květen cinema in Teplice in April 2013. We had the honour of presenting the film in Prague in May 2015 in the Zahrada Cultural Centre in Chodov.