Hanoi [Vietnam], April 22: Ahead of the premiere of 'The Buffalo's Summer' at the 4th Da Nang Asian Film Festival, artist Kieu Trinh shared her thoughts on a special scene in the film.
"The Buffalo Herding Season" is one of Vietnam's classic films, directed by Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh. Produced in 2003 and released in 2004, the film tells the story of a young man named Kim leading buffaloes to safety from a flood. This project later gained acclaim, winning a series of awards including the Special Prize at the Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland), the Best Director award at the Chicago Film Festival (USA), and the Special Prize at the Amazonas Film Festival (Brazil).
The film impressed viewers with many scenes depicting the Mekong Delta region, most notably a large-scale scene featuring 300 buffaloes, a rare sight in Vietnamese cinema. Actress Kieu Trinh (playing Ban) had many memorable and even comical experiences while participating in these scenes.
According to Kieu Trinh, filming the scene of herding buffalo across a flooded field was one of the biggest challenges for the film crew. To assemble the special cast of 300 buffaloes, the crew had to search for and gather them from many provinces in the Mekong Delta. Not only did they need a large number, but the buffaloes also had to meet strict criteria regarding appearance; each one had to be plump and of similar size and height to create uniformity on screen. This caused the production team and assistant director to almost lose sleep during the preparation period.
But the peak of chaos came when they arrived on set, with all 300 buffaloes appearing in one frame. According to the actress, because each area usually only has one lead buffalo, gathering many herds together easily led to conflict. When filming, the buffaloes constantly jostled and even ran around everywhere. "While filming, the whole herd of buffaloes ran wild, and the people were also panicked because they were afraid of being gored," Kieu Trinh recalled. Besides facing the chaos of the buffalo herd, the actors also had to directly participate in scenes with inherent risks. Kieu Trinh recounted her first time practicing riding a buffalo; due to lack of experience, she jumped onto its back, startling the buffalo and throwing her to the ground. The fall caused her to sprain her ankle, leaving her limping for a month. "Since then, I've been traumatized. Whenever I film with buffalo, I always have to ask the buffalo owner to stand close by in case something happens," she shared.
The actress also recalled another "heart-stopping" moment while filming a scene with both buffalo and cows. While Kieu Trinh was fully immersed in the scene, the mother cow suddenly charged towards her calf, heading straight for her. "At that moment, I just stood there frozen. Luckily, everyone noticed in time and intervened; otherwise, I don't know what would have happened," she recounted.
Kieu Trinh after 'The Buffalo's Season'
After "The Buffalo's Season ," Kieu Trinh continued to make her mark through roles in "That Son Tam Linh," "Dear Mother, I'm Going," and "Tai..." At 50, the actress leads a private life with her family. She diligently pursues her artistic career while also dedicating time to tending her garden in Binh Phuoc (now Dong Nai).
In August 2025, she surprised everyone by publicly revealing her boyfriend, but did not share his identity. The actress also revealed that in the future she wants things to happen naturally, without placing importance on titles or distance, only hoping to maintain respect and peace in her current relationship.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
