Vietnamese cinema: There is no place like Vietnam
 |
|
A scene from “Living in Fear”. |
There is no place like Vietnam, where audiences turn their backs on films that win domestic and international prizes.
Awarded movies = unmarketable
In a meeting, director Bui Thac Chuyen outspokenly said: “Talking about the revenue of Song Trong So Hai (Living in Fear) is painful.”
Few people bought tickets to watch his movie, though “Living in Fear” won five Golden Kite Awards in 2005, including Best Director.
The movie defeated 83 films from many countries to win the Best Movie in the Asian New Talent Prize competition of the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Why? Being aware that poor advertising is a major reason for the unpopularity of local movies, Feature Film Studio 1, the producer of “Living in Fear”, spent billions of dong to promote the movie. However, revenue from the film after three days at cinemas in Hanoi and HCM City was not enough to recover advertising expenditures. Film producers were depressed and they couldn’t understand what audiences wanted.
It was not better for “Trai Tim Be Bong” (Little Heart), even though it was made by a reputed crew: Director Nguyen Thanh Van, script writer Nguyen Quang Lap, and actresses Hong Anh and Lan Ha.
Before the film had been finished, it won the Spring Award 2007 of the Global Film Initiative for best script. However, it is said that the story was told at a very slowly rhythm, which is unsuitable to modern life today and audiences might not have liked it for that reason.
 |
|
A scene from “Little Heart”. |
“Rung Den” (Black Forest) was advertised as the only Vietnamese entrant for the Oscars 2008 before it went to the big screen. But finally, it didn’t meet conditions to become a nominee for the Best Foreign Film title at Oscar 2008 because it failed to have high revenue from cinemas.
Director Vuong Duc and the Vietnam Feature Studio defended their product by saying that it was screened commercially at cinemas of the army forces. “Black Forest” finally went to cinemas nationwide during the 2008 Christmas, alongside Hollywood blockbusters like The Transporter 3, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
“Black Forest” was introduced at the most modern cinema complexes in Vietnam. At Megastar, the movie attracted several dozens of viewers. Some cinemas were reluctant to distribute the movie, as they knew beforehand that this so-called artistic film would be leaving early, although it doesn’t lack “hot scenes” and won several awards at the Golden Kite Awards 2007.
“Trang Noi Day Gieng” (Moon at the Bottom of the Well) was honoured for the Best Actress award at the Dubai International Film Festival and the Silver Kite Award 2008, but will it escape the curse of artistic films? The answer is in the future, because the producer hasn’t yet planned to introduce it to the public.
Director of the Giai Phong (Liberation) Film, Nguyen Thai Hoa, the producer of “Moon at the Bottom of the Well”, said the firm will distribute this movie abroad first, and then at small cinemas in Vietnam.
“We hope this new style of film distribution will attract audiences,” Hoa said.
Luckily, the movie has earned nearly VND1 billion in revenue (by early March 2009) from international film festivals.
Art vs. market
 |
|
A scene in “Black Forest”. |
Is there any place where the conception of artistic and market movies is a long-run matter of controversy like in Vietnam? It seems to have a ridiculous rule: Films that attract large numbers of viewers are called marketable films and those that are not popular are called artistic products.
Therefore, the movies that have lured millions of viewers and earned billions of dong of revenue, namely “Gai Nhay” (Bar Girls), “Lo Lem He Pho” (Street Cinderella), “Nhung Co Gai Chan Dai” (Long-legged Girls), and recently “Giai Cuu Than Chet” (Saving the Death), are called “non-artistic movies”.
There is a paradox for Vietnamese films: Successful films in terms of revenue can’t win any prize and those that are honoured with various awards are neglected by local audiences.
While the producers of so-called marketable movies are happy to earn a lot of money from cinemas, the producers of artistic products please themselves that their films are abandoned by local audiences but they are praised by foreign ones and that is okay.
The world has hundreds of international film festivals a year and each festival has its own criteria. It is not so difficult to send a movie to international film festivals. And if a movie participates in various film festivals, it may earn one sub-prize and this may be more easily attained than attracting local audiences.
“Khi Nang Thu Ve” (When Autumn Sunlight Comes) by Bui Trung Hai is an example. At its first presence, the movie was criticised up and down: unattractive, insipid, non-logical, bad and others. But the director sent his product to the Houston Film Festival 2008 in the US. Surprisingly, the movie won the Gold Remy Award for Best New Director.
VietNamNet/SD
Comments