Chi Bui
Account Manager
Manh Nguyen
Videographer
Hien Trang Nguyen
Writer
Background
The Vietnamese Center for Nature Conservation and Development (CCD) is an NGO working directly with government ministries and local authorities to advance biodiversity conservation throughout Vietnam. As an implementing partner both for Vietnamese ministries and international donors, they provide both boots on the ground, and expertise, with a mandate that spans from reforestation to the protection of vulnerable species.
In early 2021, CCD entered into a cooperative funding agreement with the Goethe Institute to produce a documentary film about their work to raise awareness of their activities for a Vietnamese audience. Goethe would provide the funding and consultation from documentary film experts, and CCD would make their research staff, conservationists and projects available to the filmmakers.
The project opened with an open call for pitches from local agencies and artists, which would be followed by a competitive round of interviews with both Goethe and CCD to identify the right storytellers for this particular story. Given Fourdozen’s years of experience working in environmental conservation and sustainability, and our deep commitment to the wild spaces of Vietnam and the people who live among them, we knew that this was the job for us.
Our Big Idea
Fourdozen put together a Vietnamese-led creative team to research CCD and put together a prospective shooting script that identified locations, species and individuals to focus on. This team dove into the competitive selection process, passing through multiple rounds of interviews with both the Goethe Institute and CCD. In the spring of 2021, our script was selected for execution.
As is often the case in conservation, nothing is simple as it seems. Having been selected to tell the story of CCD’s activities in Vietnam, our team then embarked on a month’s long process of discovery and stakeholder communications, expertly balancing the storytelling needs of the documentary form with the pragmatic goals of CCD. This process included multiple visits to the field, deep into the forest of Xuân Liên Nature Reserve to observe CCD field staff in action, as well as multiple filmed interviews with CCD staff in Hanoi with responsibilities as diverse as hunting down endangered turtles for tagging and research, and replanting trees.
Our videography and writing work doesn’t always include leeches and 4×4 vehicles stuck in the mud, but when it does we are up to the challenge. We’re grateful for a project that provided us with the opportunity to live our values, and contribute to the very meaningful work that CCD does by advising them on the best way to tell that story to the rest of Vietnam.
