Vietnamese- American director nominated for Emmys
Vietnamese-American director Bao Nguyen and his music documentary The Greatest Night in Pop have received three prestigious Emmy Award nominations.
The Greatest Night in Pop has been nominated in two categories – Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Sound Editing For A Nonfiction Or Reality Programme. Its director, Bao Nguyen, received a nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Nonfiction Programming category.
In 2021, his documentary Be Water about Bruce Lee, was listed among the nominees for the 42nd Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards.
Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, The Greatest Night in Pop tells the behind-the-scenes stories from nearly 40 years ago (in 1985) of We Are the World – one of the best-selling singles of all time. According to New York Magazine, the musical project was able to raise US$63 million to support victims of the famine crisis in Africa during the 1980s.
The film features interviews with singers like Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and many others who were part of the original recording team back then. From these interviews, a complex but no less exciting journey is revealed.
Bảo said he came up with the idea for The Greatest Night in Pop during COVID-19 pandemic when people around the world had to endure many losses. The circumstances made the filmmaker think of We Are the World, a song that many audiences seek to listen to when the world faces crises of natural disasters, pandemics, and racial discrimination.
"The song has had such an influence that even nearly 40 years later, people around the world are still singing it," the director told vnexpress.net.
After the film's release, many newspapers and viewers praised it as "a nostalgic explosion from the 80s." The film topped the charts for several weeks on the Netflix platform.
The Roger Ebert review site gave the film three out of four stars, commenting that "music bio-docs may be running out of steam, but The Greatest Night in Pop works by being specific and enlightening...There is a sense that what happened in that studio in 1985 was singular and special. Was it the greatest night? I don’t know. But this film will convince you it was a special one.”
Celebrated singer Lionel Richie revealed that he was amazed by The Greatest Night In Pop Emmy nominations.
“I am still amazed by what we accomplished in 1985 and I’m even more amazed after receiving an Emmy nomination for The Greatest Night In Pop," Richie wrote.
"It has been an absolute joy to be able to bring this moment in history to life alongside Netflix. A big thank you and congratulations to all of the artists and participants for making We Are The World happen, and thank you to the Television Academy for recognising our documentary.”
Competing alongside Bao Nguyen in the Best Director and Best Film categories of Emmy this year are some notable productions such as Beckham - What Makes David Run (Netflix), Girls State (Apple TV+) and Jim Henson Idea Man (Disney+).
The 2024 Emmy Awards will be held on September 15 at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, just a few months after the 2023 awards ceremony, which took place in January 2024 due to the previous actors' and writers' strike.
A graduate from New York University, director Bảo Nguyễn has also been renowned as a producer of many successful films, notably Nước 2030 (Water 2030), a work by prestigious director Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh. Many short films and other works by the 41-year-old director have been featured on HBO, NBC, ARTE, PBS, and other platforms.
