Vietnamese actress claims top honors at Paris International Film Festival

"I did not expect that my first movie would achieve these surprising results," Phuong said while accepting the award.

"Things are like a dream. I want to say thank you to the director, crew and everyone for supporting me."

Jena Suru, deputy director of the film festival, said Phuong was the soul of "Invisible Love" (Tinh Yeu Vo Hinh), and she was impressed with her acting.

A poster of "Invisible Love."

In the film, set in 1930’s French Indochina, Phuong plays Nguyen Thi Hoa, a nurse trying to find love and hit by tragedies as she falls in love with American doctor James Marquis (Kazy Tauginas).

The crew said Phuong was cast because of her eastern beauty, which dovetailed with the character’s requirement.

The film also won the "Best Narrative Feature Film" and "Best International Collaboration" awards. The film was produced by Vietnam Feature Film Studio 1 and Hong Nhat Culture Company.

Guo is a member of the China Television Artists Association and China Photographers Association, and a former president of the Beijing Digital Film and Television Academy.

Born in 1996 in the northern Lang Son Province, Phuong has acted in some TV series and will appear in a Vietnam-Japan co-production "Along the Sea," which is expected to hit cinemas in the first half of 2021.

The annual Paris International Film Festival honors independent studios.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year's festival was held online from February 4-14 and attracted 43 entries.