Center for the literary arts in New York State
THE GLEN TROTINER ENDOWED LECTURE IN FILMMAKING
Film screening and discussion: "Three Seasons"
7 p.m. Friday, September 19, 2025
Screening with commentary by director Tony Bui
Page Hall - University at Albany Downtown Campus
135 Western Avenue, Albany NY 12203 See map.
(Vietnam, 1999, 113 minutes, color, Rated PG-13) Directed by Tony Bui. Starring Don Duong, Nguyen Ngoc Hiep, Tran Manh Cuong, Zoe Bui, and Harvey Keitel.
The first film to receive both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, "Three Seasons" presents a variety of characters as they experience the past, present, and future of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in the early days of “Đổi Mới,” the state capitalist market reforms initiated in 1986. "Three Seasons" was the first American film to be made in Vietnam after the U.S. lifted its 30-year trade embargo in 1994.
From Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times
We require Asia to be ancient, traditional and mysterious. It fills a need. We don't want to know that Hong Kong is a trade capital and Japan is an economic giant. We're looking for Shangri-La, for the sentimental fantasies of generations of Western writers who fell for the romantic idea of the East -- and centuries of Eastern writers who did, too. Read more.
Presented by The Glen Trotiner Endowed Lecture in Filmmaking fund in memory of Glen Trotiner ’78, MS ’79, a highly regarded filmmaker and a distinguished UAlbany alumnus.
About the filmmaker
Tony Bui was born in Vietnam and came to the U.S. with his family in 1975 at the age of two, as a refugee of the U.S.-Vietnamese war — leaving Vietnam approximately one week before the Fall of Saigon.
His other feature films as director include "Green Dragon" (2001), and "The Throwaways" (2015). His short film, "Yellow Lotus" (1997), was the first Vietnamese language film to be screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and received more than 15 national and international festival awards.
He is currently Artist-in-Residence at Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute and teaches in Columbia’s School of the Arts graduate film program.
(Photo credit: Casey Baugh)
CELEBRATING CONSTITUTION DAY 2025
Join us for a weeklong, campus-wide program of events in honor of Constitution Day (Wednesday, September 17th), celebrating civil discourse, inclusivity, and free speech, which are the foundations of scholarly inquiry and higher education.
Other Writers Institute events celebrating Constitution Day 2025 include:
-
Monday, Sept. 15: Amanda Litman, When We're in Charge: The Next Generation’s Guide to Leadership (2025)
-
Wednesday, Sept. 17: Staged reading of "Building the Wall" by Robert Schenkkan
-
Thursday, Sept. 18: Valeria Luiselli, The Lost Children Archive
-
Friday, Sept. 19: Film screening/discussion of Tony Bui's "Three Seasons".
For a complete schedule of events, visit Great Dane Dialogue.
Cosponsored by the Offices of Communications and Marketing, Inclusive Excellence, Student Affairs, First Year Experience, CATLOE, OGCR/Leading Questions, Rockefeller College, Interfaith Center, University Libraries, and the New York State Writers Institute.