When Hanoi was under threat of massive US bombing in 1965, students and teachers from the Conservatorium of Music fled to the countryside. There they re-established their school by building an entire campus underground, including a 500-seat auditorium and 40 special caverns for the pianos. Award-winning filmmaker Tom Zubrycki's (Molly and Mobarak, MIFF 03) most recent documentary tells this extraordinary story with music, archival footage and interviews. Focusing on Professor Huong, whose son, also a musician, turns his back on a career in concert music to become a quiz show host on television, Zubrycki presents a relevant metaphor for modern Vietnam. Vietnam Symphony is a moving portrait of life then and today, of a rapidly changing nation that now embraces trends and ideas from the very countries it fought against 40 years ago.

Tom Zubrycki will be attending the festival.