Viet Bao, News Report, Posted: Feb 19, 2013

 
One of the nine films shortlisted for the Oscars' foreign film category in 2013 is "War Witch" by Kim Nguyen. Nguyen was born and raised in Canada, the French-speaking region. "War Witch" not only won best film at the Tribeca Film Board Film Festival, where 15-year-old Rachel Mwanza also won the Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival.

Born to a Vietnamese father and a Canadian mother, Nguyen grew in North America, but the film "War Witch" originated from the story the director read about two twins in Burma, Johnny and Luther, who led the resistance against the military government. Film begins with a baby girl conscripted as a child soldier in Africa. She was 12 years old, and was forced to kill her parents and join the rebels fighting against the government.

But Komona was not the normal type of soldier. Due to her ability to see ghosts who warned her of enemies' approaching, she managed to avoid capture and was considered a witch and became the supreme leader of the rebels and given the title War Witch. Fighting along with her is an albino boy named Magician.