File - Pathfinder Films LTD

In Theaters October 25, 2013
Released by
Pathfinder Films LTD.
1118 N Cahuenga Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90038
Ph. 1 323 287 5199
tim.anderson@pathfinderfilmgroup.net
www.pathfinderfilmsltd.com
www.houseinthealley.com
Contents Page
Synopis
3
Cast & Crew bios
4-8
Gallery of available stills
9-11
Full Credits
12-13
Technical details
13
Contacts for Press
Timothy O’Brien
Office (323) 287-5199
cell (626) 353 0232
t.obrien@pathfinderfilmgroup.net
Released by
Pathfinder Films LTD.
1118 N Cahuenga Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90038
Ph. 1 323 287 5199
tim.anderson@pathfinderfilmgroup.net
www.pathfinderfilmsltd.com
Trailer and Theaters Here
www.houseinthealley.com
https://www.facebook.com/houseinthealleymovie
Logline
Dark forces invade the home of a young couple after they lose their baby.
Brief Synopsis
Until they lose their baby to a miscarriage, a young couple were happily settling into their new life in
their spacious home. After the tragedy, Thao is inconsolable and won’t let her baby’s body leave the
house. Normal life eludes her as terrifying visions undermine her sanity. Her husband, Thanh,
experiences strange phenomena around their home and when his wife turns on him, he must race to
uncover the secrets of the house in the alley before they lose their sanity and their lives.
Long Synopsis
A young couple move to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) where the husband, Thanh, is in
charge of a new branch of his family’s business. The wife, Thao, is expecting their first
child and they have a large home in one of the city’s traditional alleys.
But their dream abruptly shatters one night when the pregnancy ends in a miscarriage. Though their
families come to perform the funeral rites, Thao cannot cope with her grief and refuses to let her
baby’s coffin leave the home.
Thanh begins to see a drastic change in his wife’s emotional state and becomes
concerned. They both realise that moving on will be harder than they had anticipated,
though Thanh is at first preoccupied with difficulties at the family factory where the
workers are striking.
They try everything they can to move on but they are isolated as the both come from different parts of
the country and have few connections in the city. And unusual encounters are afflicting them: loud
footsteps at night, scratches materialise on the walls of the house, their furniture is vandalized, and
brief shadows of whispering children come and go.
Thao comes to believe these activities emanate from their unborn son, and she begins to gravitate to
the evil forces. Thanh at first believes his wife’s justifiable grief is at the root of her problems, but as
the strange events increase he’s forced to confront the forces he can’t be sure even exist.
Thao becomes almost unrecognizable as the paranormal takes over her body. Her
husband sees his wife’s sanity worsen every moment and is tormented by thoughts of
losing her. It’s a race against time to save his wife and when he finds out that the house has
mysteries and secrets many wanted to forget, he must act to resolve its haunted past.
www.houseinthealley.com
Ngo Thanh Van - Thao
Ngo Thanh Van, is a familiar to Vietnamese audiences as both an actress and a singer. As an actress
she has starred in Ringo Le’s Saigon Love Story and 2 in 1 by Dao Duy Phuc. She starred in Vietnam’s
big 2007 box office hit, Charlie Nguyen’s The Rebel (Giong Mau Anh Hung), and was last seen in
2009’s wide-released Clash (Bay Rong). In both of these films she starred with action star Johnny Tri
Nguyen.
Playing Thao in House in the Alley offered Van the chance express her range, by playing a character
outside of her action heroine image. The role of Thao is a challenge Van relished. She was very
interested to play a character with a complex personality. Thao is someone who can be tender with her
husband in one minute and ferociously protective of her son’s remains the next. Thao is under much
pressure and stress, and how she reacts is the basis for this movie. Thao goes through a journey in the
film, and in it, Van wants to take the audience along for the ride.
Van did all the stunts in this film herself. She insisted on this to provide the maximum authentic
feeling for the audience. The big finale where Van crashed through a door was done herself without
special effects, assistant or stuntmen. At the end of the shoot Van was bruised, physically and
metaphorically. This is one of those rare moments where audience can truly see a top actress give her
all for the role.
www.houseinthealley.com
Tran Bao Son - Thanh
Tran Bao Son’s first role, in the feature film The Legend is Alive ( Huyen Thoai Bat Tu ) opposite Dustin
Nguyen in 2009, garnered him the Best Supporting Actor in Vietnam’s Golden Kite Awards. He
followed that with Victor Vu’s box office hit thriller Inferno in 2010. Known previously in Vietnam for his
successful business ventures, Son found a new passion in cinema, where he relishes his work chooses
the path of only acting in films that continually challenges his acting ability.
The story of House in the Alley can be viewed from Thanh’s perspective. Thanh is in his early thirties,
running a busy but successful business. He has an older brother that is not seen in the movie. His
mother is a controlling person who wants him to succeed as well as his older brother. She helps him to
run the factory whenever he cannot be there. She is a traditional mom that wants her son to be happy,
but she is not afraid to point out her unhappiness with his wife. Thanh is therefore is in the middle of
forces that are pulling him: his wife at home coping with their tragedy, his mom controlling him, his
work piling up and the workers are unhappy, the not quite finished house where he lives.
Son was one of the first people that read the script House in the Alley and immediately saw the
richness of the role. Son brings to the role an easy personality that the audience can identify with, and
root for, and a presence that allows the audience to quickly understand the feelings that he conveys
on screen. Son found it a very challenging and rewarding experience at the same time.
www.houseinthealley.com
Le-Van Kiet - Director
Le-Van Kiet was born in Viet Nam and immigrated with his family to the United States when he was
two years old. Kiet graduated from UCLA’s School of Film and Television where his short film, “The
Silence”, was awarded the best student film in his class. Dust of Life, Kiet’s feature film debut, was the
Closing Night film for the Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF) 2007. The film was a gritty
visual depiction of gang life in Orange County in the early 1990's. Dust of Life was released
theatrically in several states in the United States in 2009. His second feature film, Sad Fish, was an
official selection for ViFF 2009. His most recent feature film House in the Alley was released on
Valentine’s Day 2012 in Vietnam and held the Vietnamese record for highest opening day box office.
He is currently working on the feature films Bẫy Cấp 3 (High School Trap) and The Lost Tour.
“When I first worked in Vietnam I was living in an alley and I always felt it had this eerie undertone or
feeling about it. There were times I was walking down the alley and I would suddenly see mysterious
things: there would be an orphanage here and all of a sudden there would be a monastery there and
they’d be within feet of each other - so tight and then there’d be a house. there would be so many
mysteries there and I though it would be a great thing to do something with a house in such an alley as
a character and the mystery behind it that you don’t know until you get deeper into it.
“Also I wanted to do a film about contemporary life in Vietnam – where it has gone from being a wartorn country to where it is now – I didn’t want to make a film about the heavy burden of war - a lot of
people still think of it that way. Doing this gave me a chance to put out there what Vietnam is now.
“Later on we found out that there are certain limitations to doing horror in a developing country. I had
to juggle those aspects of traditional things and what western viewers are used to but to also make it
more meaningful so I decided to go to more of a psychological approach where you don’t know if it’s
their perception, their sanity or whether it’s happening for real. Who do you believe? Do you believe the
husband? Do you believe the wife? We don’t know. It could just be their stressful overwhelming
situation. There’s also an undertone of supernatural element there – where we live in a world where
there might be another unknown dimension out there. Usually when we read about anything spiritual
or any other dimension there’s always a stressful situation attributed to that earthly person. Then it
also goes along with the idea that spirits are drawn to weakness – that evil spirits tend to thrive on
tragedy.”
www.houseinthealley.com
“There are some Vietnamese elements to the mythology but I didn’t want to go to the point where I
was doing it to teach people the culture. The Vietnamese aspect has to do with the dynamics of the
social situation. Saigon is a very western leaning place. It tries to model itself on bigger cities like
Bangkok and Singapore. The people who live in saigon are very different from people further south say
– they wouldn’t go round doing the rituals in the way country people would. But they do have what they
have been taught about spirits – they could exist through if all these things haven’t been put together,
for example, if the house hasn’t been blessed properly. IN the film the mother is very adamant about
having the house blessed properly after the baby’s death. In the film our female character won’t let go
of her child and in a Vietnamese sense she may be attracting spirits because of that and also the fact
that the house has not been taken care of correctly. In Vietnamese culture we really care about the
space we live on and it speaks about how you are. If you don’t have a well taken care of house then
you attract negativity.
Thanh’s relationship with the factory has to do with displacement. – I wanted to show how displaced
the couple really is. They are from the north and typically the northerners come to Saigon because it’s
more economically thriving – and the northerners have distinct beliefs which sometimes clash with the
south. There’s a sense that he doesn’t really belong in this environment and he’s struggling to keep his
family together. His wife is very southern. When a Vietnamese person sees this film they can sense
these things: through the way their accents are.”
“I am Vietnamese and American. For me eventually the film does speak about where I have come
from. The family aspect of it and the mother and her incessant detail about making your life
meaningful to whatever you are doing. A western viewer can understand it just as I can and a
Vietnamese person sees it differently in a way that I also see.”
www.houseinthealley.com
Trần Trọng Dần - Producer
House in the Alley producer, Dan Tran, is the CEO of Coco Paris Media, Inc., a motion picture
production company in California. Coco Paris distributed Le-Van Kiet first film Dust of Life (2009). Dan
is working on feature film collaborations with directors Nguyen- Vo Nghiem Minh and Le-Van Kiet. Dan
was a Board Director for the Vietnamese American Arts and Letter Association (VAALA) in 2011. He
was the founder of Haplotec Inc., a video processing company. Dan has nine U.S. patents in computer
system design and was the 2008 Chapter President for the Vietnamese Strategic Ventures Network
(VSVN).
“For me I want to show Vietnamese culture in a modern point of view. The attraction of the film is that
it has many layers and a lot of things going on underneath that offer an opportunity to talk a little bit
about how Vietnamese lives are right now.
“When I read the script there were a lot of things going on. It’s about the characters rather than a
straight horror. The characters are very involving and the mood is most important You have to navigate
through all of these alleys but there is a lot of action and contrast between older and younger people
and between things from the past and the present.
“Producing in Vietnam seems offers an opportunity to try new things where it’s logical. Because it’s so
new we felt like maybe we are writing the procedure as we go. To shoot on location in Ho Chi Minh
(Saigon) is a challenge. It’s all in a real alley where people are actually living. People were building a
house around us and we were constantly stopping – had to shoot day and night because of the sound
issues. It’s incredibly busy in the day time because so much is going on. The alley is not empty in teh
day as it may appear to be in the film. We had to do most at night: 80% is shot at night – even the day
time scenes were shot at night because how busy it was during the day. “
www.houseinthealley.com
GALLERY
A full set of the still can be seen on the Gallery page at www.houseinthealley.com .
Hi-res versions of these stills can be obtained from Pathfinder Films LTD.
Contact: t.obrien@pathfinderfilmgroup.net
www.houseinthealley.com
A full set of the still can be seen on the Gallery page at www.houseinthealley.com .
Hi-res versions of these stills can be obtained from Pathfinder Films LTD.
Contact: t.obrien@pathfinderfilmgroup.net
www.houseinthealley.com
A full set of the still can be seen on the Gallery page at www.houseinthealley.com .
Hi-res versions of these stills can be obtained from Pathfinder Films LTD.
Contact: t.obrien@pathfinderfilmgroup.net
www.houseinthealley.com
FILM CREDITS “HOUSE IN THE ALLEY / NGÔI NHÀ TRÔNG HẺM”
Written and directed/ Kịch bản và Đạo diễn:
Producing Company/ Công Ty Sản xuất:
In Association with/ Với Sự Hợp Tác của
Lê Văn Kiệt
Coco Paris
Créa TV
Executive Producer/Giám Đốc Sản Xuất:
Trần Trọng Dần
Chung Minh
Associate Producer/ Liên Kết Sản Xuất:
Marcus Tai
Lan Như Bích Phan
Produced by/ Nhà Sản xuất:
Trần Trọng Dần
CAST/ Diễn Viên
Thảo
Thanh
Nga
HằngMinh
Dung
Nurse / Nữ Hộ Sinh
Old Lady/Bà già
Orphan Boy/ Trai Mồ Côi
Young Man/ Thanh Niên
Lady on Bicycle / Bà lái xe đạp
Driver / Tài Xế
Ngô Thanh Vân
Trần Bảo Sơn
Trần Bích
Bùi Văn Hải
Phan Thị Mơ
Lê Thiện
Hồng Sáp
Tran Thinh Vinh
Trần Cường
Nguyễn Thị Lệ
Trần Trọng Dần
Post Prodution / Hậu Kỳ:
Sound Design/ Thiết Kế Âm Thanh:
Specia Effects/ Kỹ Xão Hinh Ảnh:
Post Production Supervisor/ Chủ Nhiệm Hậu Kỳ:
Music by/ Âm nhạc:
Edited by/ Dựng phim:
Sean Shao Chi Yap
Andrew Finch
Ngọc Hồ
Fred Emory Smith
Lê Văn Kiệt
Production Team / Nhân Sách Đoàn Phim:
D.O.P/ Đạo diễn hình ảnh:
Co Producer/Phó sản xuất:
First Assistant Director/ Phó Đạo diễn:
Unit Production Manager/ Chủ Nhiệm
Casting by/ Phụ trách Casting:
Production Designer/ Thiết kế :
Art Director/ Họa sĩ thiết kế:
Assistant Art Director/Trơ lý thiết kế:
Set Decorator / Dựng cảnh:
Costume/ Phục trang:
Make up/Hóa trang:
www.houseinthealley.com
Joel Spezeski
Jeff Võ
Trần Bửu Lộc
Jeff Võ
Trần Trọng Dần
Trần Bửu Lộc
Nguyễn Hầu Dũng
Trần Viet Hưng
Trần Trung Lĩnh
Trần Trung Lĩnh
Nguyễn Đình Phong
Trần Viet Hưng
Trần Trung Lĩnh
Phan Thị Minh Châu
Lê Huỳnh Mỹ Phượng
2nd A.D/ Trợ lý đạo diễn thứ 1:
Script Supervisor/Thư ký trường quay:
Location Manager/ Phụ trách bói cảnh:
Sound Mixer/ Âm thanh hiện trường:
Production Coordinator/ Trợ lý hậu trường:
Production Assistant/Trợ lý hiện trường:
Assistant to Producer 1/ Trợ lý Nhà Sản xuất 1:
Assistant to Producer 2/ Trợ lý Nhà Sản xuất 2:
Transport Captain / Tổ trưởng tổ xe:
Nguyễn Hầu Dũng
Trương Thụy Vi
Jeff Võ
Tô Trung Hiếu
Jason Hilliado
Alex Kha Nguyễn
Ngô Minh Phúc
Jason Hilliado
Alex Kha Nguyễn
Trần Bá Minh
TECHNICAL:
Length:
95 minutes
Color
Languages: Vietnamese with English subtitles
DOP:
Joel Spezeski
Camera:
Red
Exhibition Format: HD 1080/24p DVD region 0, DCP, and 35mm
Released by
Pathfinder Films LTD.
1118 N Cahuenga Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90038
Ph. 1 323 287 5199
tim.anderson@pathfinderfilmgroup.net
www.pathfinderfilmsltd.com
www.houseinthealley.com