The Global Search for Education: Claire Imler Creates a Surreal Short Film Inspired by Vietnam

Posted By C. M. Rubin on Aug 8, 2022

This month, audiences can screen Director Claire Imler’s short film, Vietnam, on the Planet Classroom Network. In Vietnam, Imler presents us with an intimate collection of moments captured while she was traveling through Vietnam. She documents this fascinating country in Southeast Asia, skillfully allowing her visuals to tell the story without any dialogue. Despite this, it’s a credit to Imler’s talent as a storyteller how much we learn and feel about Vietnamese culture.

Claire is an award-winning French-American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her work has been screened and awarded at over 60 film festivals around the world. She was recognized as a 2018 National Young Arts finalist in Cinematic Arts and named Orange County Register’s 2017 Artist of the Year in film. Combining her love for film and travel, Claire has worked internationally in 9 countries.

The Global Search for Education is pleased to welcome Claire Imler.

Claire, what was appealing to you about the opportunity to shoot this film? Did working on this travel film ever force you outside your comfort zone? If so, how did you go about overcoming that feeling?

In 2017, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Vietnam to work on a short documentary film with my high school film program. It was my first time in Asia, and I was so amazed by all the beauty Vietnam had to offer! While working on the documentary films, we worked closely with some amazing local guides and we even had pen pals that were students from a local university. Having the guides and penpals really helped us fully get immersed in the culture and it was amazing experiencing the country with their help. As with most traveling, there are always moments where you will be out of your comfort zone, but I always embrace those moments as they are how we grow and become better citizens of the world.

The film relies on visuals to hit emotional beats and tell an overall story. What was the planning like prior to arriving in Vietnam? Did you ever redirect your focus during the filming process?

I actually wasn’t planning on making this travel film when we were there! I was there to work on a documentary, so I was always filming B-roll for the documentary film everywhere we went. When I was back home however, I was looking through all my footage and decided to put together a travel film with everything I had. So this entire edit was shaped in the post process, and through the music and sound effects, I put together a film that gave the feeling of spending a full day in Vietnam.

What is something you hope the audience can take away from watching the film?

I hope the audience can take away a piece of Vietnam’s beauty! I also really hope it sparks interest for people to travel to this country, as it is truly an amazing and magical country.

Thank you Claire!