Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum is visited by Vietnamese Film Crew

Tuesday, 24 March 2009 19:28

The Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum had the opportunity to be featured on the upcoming Vietnamese series, “Along the Mississippi River.” The series will air in Vietnam between May and November of this year. The crew is in the United States for 45 days and is featuring various sites along the mighty Mississippi.

“We want to know where Mark Twain started his stories,” said Hieu Nguyen, translator for the film crew. “We want to know how a man can write such a story, to be understood by children and adults alike, all over the world.”

The crew was given a behind the scenes tour by Henry Sweets, museum curator. He also narrated part of their Hannibal visit and his voice will be dubbed into Vietnamese for the official airing later this year.

“This crew was very interested in the influence Mark Twain continues to have on people today, said Sweets. “Their focus was to examine Mark Twain’s writings about the Mississippi and how they are still relevant today.”

In addition to their tour of Hannibal historic sites, the crew also visited Dena Ellis, museum finance and gift shop manger, at her Hannibal home. During their visit they asked questions pertaining to her childhood memories of the river and her memories of the historic floods.

“It was an honor to have the crew visit my home,” said Ellis. “The cross-cultural learning that took place is something I will never forget. They asked if I thought there would be anymore tension between Vietnam and the United States and my reply was simple in that I think everyone would like to live in a more peaceful world. There is so much we can learn from each other, why not start now?”

The Mark Twain Cave is their next stop tomorrow morning.

The crew asked about a specialty food they could get in Hannibal that residents enjoy and the answer was unanimous with, tenderloins at Ole Planters. The restaurant opened especially for the crew on Tuesday evening, to enjoy those mouth-watering, fried treats.

The series will air on Hochiminh City Television Network later this year.