Vietnamese Film The Third Wife by director Ash Mayfair will have a special screening at Zawya Cinema on Friday, March 19 at 7:00 pm. The film has previously won several international awards, including Best Artistic Contribution at the Cairo International Film Festival.

The Third Wife has gained a wide international acclaim where it was described as “The almost entirely female cast is captivating” by Screen Daily, and “A gorgeously intimate, evocative, and melancholy story of female subjugation in 19th-century Vietnam” via Variety.

The film’s director Ash Mayfair said “The film’s events are based on my family history, where I grew up to find my grandmothers living through the same situation just like May. That’s why when I was asked to write about a personal experience in the film school, the film’s idea was the first to pop into my mind. At first, it was difficult and scary, however, I thought of turning this surrounding reality into an artistic work will result in a sincere project.
In 19th century rural Vietnam, 14-year-old May becomes the third wife of wealthy land-owner Hung. Soon she learns that she can only gain status by asserting herself as a woman who can give birth to a male child. May's hope to change her status turns into a real and tantalizing possibility when she gets pregnant. Faced with forbidden love and its devastating consequences, May finally comes to an understanding of the brutal truth: the options available to her are few and far between.

The Third Wife screened at many international film festivals and won several awards, including the Youth Jury Award COMUNDO at the Fribourg International Film Festival, NETPAC Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, Best Film at the Kolkata International Film Festival, a Special Mention at the Milan International Film Festival, Special Jury Award at the Minsk International Film Festival "Listapad", Gold Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival, and the TVE - Another Look Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

The film also screened at the São Paulo International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, Singapore International Film Festival, Warsaw International Film Festival, Frauen Film Tage - Vienna International Women's Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, San Diego Asian Film Festival, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

The Third Wife received a grant from the Spike Lee Film Production Fund in 2014. The film was listed on the NYU Purple List 2015 for the best screenplays submitted by NYU graduate film students. The film also won the Grand Prix at the Autumn Meeting Lab 2015 in Vietnam and the Best Film Award for a non-Hong Kong project at the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum 2016.

Vietnamese filmmaker Ash Mayfair holds an MFA in Filmmaking from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her directing credits include the short films, The Silver Man, Sam, and Walking the Dead that got selected at multiple international film festivals. The Third Wife is her feature film directorial debut.