Vietnamese Cinema 2016: View from Hanoi International Film Festivals

First of all, it cannot be denied that the initiative to organize the Hanoi International Film Festival was launched 8 years ago, and the regular maintenance of this extremely important activity every two years is a great effort of the Cinema Department in general and Vietnamese cinema activists in particular. There cannot be a large cinema industry without the activities of international film festivals, or a similar form. Due to its strongsocialize, cinema cannot be confined to its own playground; that is, it cannot continue to maintain the status quo where filmmakers create works just to serve themselves, or just for a small group of domestic audiences; or even, to keep them in storage. With the international nature and wide coverage of the visual language, cinema needs to expand its horizons, to learn and share with each other; to nurture the beauty of the human soul; to increase awareness for those who do not have the conditions to step outside the border; and moreover, as an industry, cinema also needs to be bought, sold, exchanged, and enriched for those who work in the profession. Despite some changes in wording, all four Film Festivals are consistent with the slogan Cinema - Integration and Sustainable Development. From this perspective, will Vietnamese cinema achieve its expectations?

Cinema – Integration?

In all 4 Festivals (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016), although there were still many problems (especially in the first Festival in 2010, the MC was not familiar with cinema so he only called out the names of familiar domestic actors, even just "TV stars" and ignored big names like Truong Gia Huy, Ngo Ngan To; or the MC "hijacked" the English translation, incorrectly translating the speeches of foreign movie stars), but ignoring those shortcomings, it can be considered an initial success for a young cinema industry. The organizers have created a real film festival in its true sense. In all 4 Festivals, hundreds of films came from many different countries: the first festival only had 23 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, but starting from the second festival, especially the fourth festival, when the festival was expanded to Europe and America, the number of participating films reached hundreds, and there were over 40 participating countries. Dozens of seminars and exchanges between audiences and filmmakers, between filmmakers, between professionals and managers, around the topic of cinema (Cinema and viewers, Developing a national cinema, The issue of film cooperation, Cinema in the new development period...) were organized, thanks to which domestic filmmakers had the opportunity to learn and interact with foreign colleagues. Through contact, they also learned how their products were received by audiences, what kind of films were "loved" and "hated". In particular, thanks to the Film Festival, domestic filmmakers have the opportunity to "see with their own eyes" famous international faces, whom they have only heard or seen on screen for a long time ("hearing their voices but not seeing their forms").

Opening ceremony of the 4th Hanoi International Film Festival

Following all 4 Festivals, we see that there are quite a lot of big names in the world of cinema. It is thought that a small, little-known film industry like ours, organizing a Festival would not be easy to find the sharing and sympathy of international filmmakers. However, right from the first Festival, there were quite famous names attending (Marco Meuiller - director of the Venice Film Festival, Phillip Noyce - Hollywood film director, Ms. Hellen Harrington - director of events of the American Academy of Film, and many other names from the Toronto, Berlin, Cannes, Busan, and Bangkok Film Festivals). At the most recent Festival in early November 2016, a whole "star cast" of French cinema including "veteran" director Régís Wargnier and actress Catherine Deneuve of the filmIndochina(who was nominated for an Oscar) also attended. Not to mention that many other stars from the world cinema also "landed" on the red carpet of the Vietnam Film Festival. For a "small" cinema, that can also be considered a "miracle".

However, more importantly, in our opinion, the concept of “Integration” is not simply inviting international friends to show their films in our country; nor is it just the appearance of big stars, or through a few seminars, exchanges between audiences and domestic filmmakers and international guests. More importantly, in our opinion, through those exchanges, how has Vietnamese cinema been received by friends, how is the hierarchy of Vietnamese films arranged under the “discerning” eyes of friends? And more importantly, through these Film Festivals, what has Vietnamese cinema learned? After the Film Festival, how many Vietnamese films have been sold internationally, has Vietnamese cinema maintained its excitement after the Film Festivals? How many more Film Festivals will it take for Vietnamese cinema to receive the most prestigious awards?

From that perspective, it is undeniable that thanks to the Film Festival, Vietnamese cinema has achieved quite impressive progress. First of all, from the reception perspective, Vietnamese audiences have gradually become accustomed to going to the cinema to watch movies, instead of before, they mainly watched movies on TV or DVD screens at home. Audiences, especially young people, have gained a passion and more or less understanding of the 7th art. Some of them have tried to make their first short films. Others have begun to have the consciousness to start a business by attending professional film classes. For filmmakers, thanks to the Film Festival and the opportunity to interact with international filmmakers, the professionalism in their work has also gradually improved; the domestic filmmaking atmosphere has become more and more vibrant; cooperation in filmmaking between Vietnam and international countries has begun to appear. Independent filmmakers have also appeared more. There have been Film Project activities for young filmmakers. In particular, thanks to the Film Festival, a very encouraging film activity has recently emerged. That is the eventMeet AutumnEvery year, between young domestic filmmakers and prestigious foreign film stars, in Da Nang city (due to the efforts of young director Phan Dang Di). Let's listen to a few words from Moon So-ri, a Korean female director whose film Oasis won the Marcello Award: "When I heard about the autumn meeting program, I was very interested, and especially this year, there was an acting class. I asked Phan Dang Di about sending two of my students to this project. In Asia, Korean, Japanese and Chinese cinema are the three most powerful cinemas, but for me, none of these three cinemas can develop further. I think Korean, Japanese or Chinese filmmakers have now lost their creative energy or new style. They have become more commercialized. When I go to international film festivals, I meet many people, including curators, and often ask them: "Where in Asia will the cinema boom in this era? At the recent Cannes Film Festival, as well as several previous international events, many curators told me that “it is difficult to predict but it will be Vietnamese cinema. They also said that Vietnamese filmmakers participating internationally are very energetic, have their own style and that makes me very curious, wanting to learn about the film industry in Vietnam. Attending this autumn meeting is a good opportunity for me” (according to TN newspaper, 2016)

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Directing class by filmmaker Tran Anh Hung at the Autumn Meeting event

Cinema - Sustainable Development?

In the second criterion:Cinema – Sustainable Development, through all 4 Festivals, at first, if only looking at the numbers and events, it can be considered okay. Indeed, from the 1st to the 4th Festival, after 4 festivals and 8 years, the scale and professionalism of the organizers have been significantly improved. I still remember, at the first Festival, just considering the organization (the MC and English interpreter had problems), then by the 4th festival (November 2016), the organization could be considered professional. The biggest concern is still the issue of expertise. 8 years ago, at the first Festival, due to the difficulties in domestic film production, the number of participating Vietnamese films was not much and not diverse (about 10 films). At the second Festival, the filmHot sandby veteran director Le Hoang was selected to be shown on the opening night, causing many viewers to leave halfway through (their impression of Vietnamese films was very bad); by the 3rd Film Festival, it seemed that even the quality of the films selected to participate had problems. Due to lack of preparation, the quality of the films participating in the competition was uneven, and some were even “very bad” (Indonesian films). The insiders themselves openly revealed this “bitter” truth: “There are films that I don’t understand why they were selected to compete” (Hong Anh); “Why were so many good films left out?”, “Why were so many good films not selected to compete” (Bui Thac Chuyen). Chairman of the Short Film Council Le Lam - a member from the French film industry, openly commented: “Vietnamese films are weak in both technique and content. Meanwhile, there are foreign films that, although very short in length, after watching them, we see the soul of the people of that country, see their entire culture and nation.” (TT & VH November 29, 2014). Another Korean filmmaker gave a rather sincere opinion: “The Vietnamese film industry mainly produces commercial films. But you should also determine in the long term whether the audience still wants to watch comedies that are played by the same actors over and over again? I think that before wanting to go further, Vietnamese cinema should develop in the domestic market, growing from internal strength. It is necessary to commit, find something different, then go further. Of course, it also needs a process, it cannot become a regional film industry overnight.” (Kini Kim, Deputy General Director of CJ E&M Entertainment and Media Group, Korea (TTVH Weekend issue, November 25, 2014). Too commercial, while not reaching the level of "art", after the Film Festivals, Vietnamese cinema has only created a "noisy atmosphere", meaning that the number of domestically produced films has increased day by day (at the time of the first Film Festival, Vietnam produced an average of only about 10 films per year, but by the 4th Festival, November 2016, that number had increased to over 40 films (most recently about 50 films). In terms of quantity, that is an impressive number. But a film that leaves an impression on the audience and fully expresses the Vietnamese identity is still almost impossible. That is further confirmed, in all 4 Film Festivals held right on "home ground", but Vietnamese cinema has never received any real awardshonor(Here, we only consider feature films, which are considered the most important category of a film festival). To be exact, at the first film festival, in this category, Vietnam only received the award for best actress, Nhat Kim Anh, (in the filmLong Thanh Guzheng Song), there were no awards for the film; in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Film Festivals, the awards that Vietnamese films received were still only the Special Prize from the Jury ("special" here can also be considered an "honorary" award for the host country):Hero's destiny(Vichtor Vu, part 2),Flapping in mid-air(Nguyen Hoang Diep, part 3,I see yellow flowers on green grassby Victor Vu, part 4. From the 1st to the 4th Film Festival, the awards that Vietnamese cinema has won have increased. In addition to the official awards for short films and documentaries, at the 4th Film Festival, thanks to the initiative of the organizing committee, Vietnam had the honor of receiving two more awards for feature films:Win the lotteryby Dustin Nguyen (for category)Audience Choice Movie) andTaxi, what's your name? by Duc Thinh, Dinh Tuan Vu (for category) Most popular movie). Special Jury Prize forI see yellow flowers on green grassby talented young director Victor Vu, who was trained very well at the Hollywood studio (part 4), has more or less created excitement and expectation for Vietnamese viewers. But with the stop right from the outer round of the Oscar nomination category for best foreign film of the American Film Academy, 2016, that "glimmer" of expectation is considered to have ended. So even one of the best films of Vietnamese cinema up to this point has only reached the level of "beautiful", "good", is it certain? While right in the Southeast Asian region, Thai cinema has had the Palme d'Or; Philippine cinema has been nominated for the Palme d'Or; Cambodia, has had a film nominated for the Oscar for best foreign film at least once. Going a little further, Iran has had an Oscar, and has been nominated for an Oscar at least once. That inevitably makes Vietnamese fans of the 7th art think...

Having gone through 4 international film festivals, with 8 years of raising the slogan "Integration and sustainable development", Vietnamese cinema has yet to receive an official award for the most important film category (feature film), right at home. Meanwhile, at the same time, there are still young filmmakers in the independent film genre (such as Phan Dang Di, Nguyen Hoang Diep) who have received awards (although not the highest) from regional and international film festivals. So what is lacking in Vietnamese cinema: talent, funding or mechanism? How many more years and how many more Hanoi International Film Festivals will it take for Vietnamese cinema to receive an official, prestigious award for its own feature film. That is a question not only for filmmakers, but also for policy makers.