From 1955 to 1975, the Vietnam War was fought between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) with the Vietnamese People’s Army and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (the Viet Cong) against the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) which had the military backing of the United States and allied forces. Under the terms of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, US troops would withdraw. In 1975, North Vietnam launched a successful offensive against South Vietnam. The country was officially reunified in 1976, becoming the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In Paris, in mid-August 2013, we were preparing our annual transhumance from Paris to Perpignan, and were in a state of tension. It was the 25th festival, complete with anniversary celebrations. Patrick Chauvel* called. He had to see me; it was urgent, and couldn’t wait. Over dinner he told me that he’d just come back from Vietnam where he’d met some photographers who had covered the war in their country – in the North. They had some extraordinary pictures and Visa pour l’Image was duty bound to show them!

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We decided to go and see them together after the 2013 festival, so in December, there we were in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We met two of the photographers, then set off for Hanoi to meet three others. They seemed surprised at our interest in their work. We were stunned by the photos they showed us. Patrick Chauvel understood the situation and summed it up: “Western photographers wanted to show the horror of the war, and wanted to stop it. But these ones wanted to prove that they could defeat the Americans, that they could win the war.”

These pictures have almost never been seen. For the Western world, the Vietnam War was Burrows, Duncan, Burnett, McCullin, Jones Griffiths, Huet, and others, including Chauvel. We concluded that it was definitely time to discover Chu Chi Thành, Hua Kiem, Maï Nam and Doan Công Tinh. Vietnam was their war too.

Jean-François Leroy

Our thanks to Marie-Christine Blandin and Patrick Bloche for their enthusiastic support for the project; and also to Florent Massot (Les Arènes publishing house) and Gaëlle Girbes. The photographers are featured in the book “Ceux du Nord” jointly published by Les Arènes & Fondation Patrick Chauvel (160 pages, 200 photos, text by Patrick Chauvel).

* The photographer Patrick Chauvel is a war reporter, documentary film-maker and writer, with a career spanning a large number of wars and conflicts, from Vietnam, one of his first reports, to Libya. He has written three books on his experiences as a war reporter, and made a documentary, Rapporteur de guerre (1999).

Event organized as part of the France-Vietnam Year, Nam Viet Nam Phap, 2013-2014 www.anneefrancevietnam.com

Chu Chi Thành

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Doan Công Tinh

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Maï Nam

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Hua Kiem

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