Hand-made 'films' a Vietnam man's passion

AFP photo / Ian Timberlake This photo taken on January 12, 2010 shows Nguyen Van Long talking with AFP during an interview at his home in Hanoi.

For half a century, Vietnamese artist Nguyen Van Long has been drawing "films" on paper and other media that he proudly screens, for one viewer at a time, with his own sound effects.

"My film is hand-made... that is the valuable thing. My film is not modern," Long, 63, says in an interview at the one-room wooden house where he has lived his whole life.

For 17 years, until illness forced him to take a break early last year, Long was a fixture at the city zoo in Hanoi, entertaining both children and adults.

There were no plush seats and no wide screen. There was not even any electricity, just Long in the open air with his collection of "films" for viewing by an audience of one. continued>>