Film programme «Những Ngày phim Việt Nam» («Vietnamese Film Days»)

   Three features made between 1971 and 1978, three consecutive mornings and one screening room: the Vietnam Film Institute brings revolutionary-era classics back to a proper screen, in the form their first audiences saw.

   The programme:

• — 26 August - «Đường về quê mẹ» (1971), directed by Bùi Đình Hạc: combat engineers Núi, Dư and Ly build decoy positions to draw American B-52 bombers while their comrades secretly cut a road for the liberation of Vân village; alongside the soldiers stands the figure of the heroic Vietnamese mother
• — 27 August - «Danh sách mật» (1977), directed by Vũ Phạm Từ: the fate of Hanoi police agents in 1954, as French troops withdrew from the city
• — 28 August - «Chom và Sa» (1978), directed by Phạm Kỳ Nam: a National Guard soldier, sheltered by a Thái family, stands against a French assault and protects a set of documents that must not fall into enemy hands

   Screenings are held in Hall 1 of rạp Ngọc Khánh, the cinema of the Vietnam Film Institute, the country's national film archive. The Institute puts such seasons together for major national anniversaries.

   It will interest anyone studying Vietnamese cinema who wants to see the originals, viewers who want historical context for the holiday, and you, if a free morning appeals more than the ceremonial side of National Day week.

   The films are in Vietnamese and the organisers have announced no foreign subtitles. This is picture-led storytelling with long stretches of action, so the thread stays readable even if the dialogue passes you by.

   One caveat: the organisers have not published entry conditions - the announcement mentions neither a price nor how seats are handed out. It is worth checking at the cinema itself, as the first screening starts on 26 August.

   Three mornings, three angles on the same stretch of history - a rare case of a holiday listing that offers the quiet of an auditorium rather than volume.