His father, Đặng Văn Ngữ, was a medical doctor whose research led him to work frequently abroad, such as in Japan from 1943–1950.

When his dad died during the Vietnam war 1967 he was given party related career favours which combined with his auto-dictation allowed him to become a director.

[2] In his autobiography, he mentions (p. 41–42):“Through literature, poetry, metaphors, pop songs, the study of pictorial art, my uncle taught me to think in images, a quality indispensable for a filmmaker.

He allowed me to forge my own vision of the world which gave birth to my creations.”[3]As part of a generation that lived through the difficult war situation, becoming a filmmaker and being able to make films is something out of the ordinary.

[4] Dang Nhat Minh started his career in film by making documentaries with topics ranging from geography, ethnography to history.

[2] He started his feature film career by adapting existing plays, generating such works as Stars on the Sea (Những ngôi sao biển, 1977), A Year-end Rainy Day (Ngày mưa cuối năm, 1980).

It was published in the Văn Nghệ (Literature and Arts) magazine and won a prize, making him consider giving up on filmmaking to become a writer.

Usually placing a woman at the centre of the story, Dang Nhat Minh closely traced Vietnamese historical struggles through the Sino-Vietnamese War (The Town Within Reach – 1983), the post-war period (When The Tenth Month Comes – 1984, The Girl on the River – 1987), the Đổi Mới economic reforms (The Return – 1994), and came back to one of the darkest phases in the post-independence Vietnam – The 1950s land reform in North Vietnam (The Guava Season – 2000).

Except for explicit propaganda movies such as Miss Nhung, Don't Burn, and Hanoi: Winter 1946, there is often one unifying theme that runs through most of his films: Betrayal.

He was the former General Secretary of the Vietnam Film Association for more than 10 years (1989-2000) where he constantly received a strong mandate through polling from members.

However, he withdrew from his position as he disliked the change in politics of the association, stating that he was glad to leave and pleased to see that he had not lost himself over the years.

In his autobiography however, Minh notes a contradiction between the internationally constructed vision of him as head of Vietnamese cinema and symbol of Doi Moi, and his controversial image in Vietnam.

Export-oriented films were prioritised to be colour, under the condition that they must show off a face of Vietnam that has bright cities, fashions, hotels and restaurants, industrial productivity, heroic fighting, etc.

After authorities reviewed the screenplay numerous times, they forewarned Dang Nhat Minh that he would be allowed to make the film under the condition that the widow whose husband died in the war must not fall in love with the village's teacher.

[42] In 2007, he was awarded the Hồ Chí Minh Prize for his works: The Town Is Within the Range, When the Tenth Month Comes, Hanoi: Winter 1946 and The Guava Season.

[47] Ambassador Nicolas Warnery affirmed that France recognized the contributions of Dang Nhat Minh not only in his humanitarian works screened in France, cooperative films such as Spring or the cinema association between the two countries during his time as general secretary of the Cinema Association, but also during his time as an interpreter for French film crews to Vietnam.

[78] Phương Nghi's family, including her brother Nguyễn Hoán, inspired the film "Mùa ổi" by Đặng Nhật Minh.