Not having Vietnamese films compete for important awards at HIFF is a big loss.

Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai and Deputy Minister Ta Quang Dong presented flowers to Mr. Kim Dong Ho and director Dao Ba Son - honorary president of HIFF and director Nguyen Vinh Son - artistic director and director Aaron Toronto - deputy artistic director of HIFF - Photo: Dung Phuong

In its first edition, the Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (HIFF) this year has three competition categories: Southeast Asian Film, First or Second Film and Short Film.

In the two categories for feature films, Southeast Asian Film and First or Second Film, no Vietnamese film participated.

Vietnamese films have only a few representatives in the Short Film category. The Southeast Asian Film Awards are considered the most important awards this time, but Vietnamese films are absent.

Vietnamese films are quite absent in the home market.

Regarding this, director Dao Ba Son - honorary president of HIFF - commented that this is a very regrettable thing, but we are forced to follow the rules.

"I don't believe that Vietnamese films are not of good quality. We have many very good films. It's just that we have a rule that the films entering the competition must be newly produced and not yet released.

This rule ties our hands and feet. If we expand the rules, we will have more good and fair films participating.

That's a big disadvantage. There are movies that have been released but they still edit and improve them."

Two highly anticipated Vietnamese films are Inside the Golden Cocoon by Pham Thien An and Cu Li Never Cries by Pham Ngoc Lan - two films that won awards for best debut film at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals.

Due to their release or release, both films cannot attend HIFF 2024.

Director Pham Thien An has a work in the top 24 best films of 2023 with Inside the Golden Cocoon - Photo: TTD

Inside the Golden Cocoon has attended several film festivals and has been released in Vietnam and abroad. Meanwhile, Cu Li Never Cries is being considered by the director to attend several other film festivals before being released in Vietnam.

If they attend HIFF, these two films may also have a chance to compete for the award for Best Southeast Asian Film - the festival's most important award.

"Using the word 'loss' is a bit too much, but it is indeed a pity for these two films. But when we enter the international arena, we have to be fair and square," said director Dao Ba Son.

Pham Ngoc Lan's Cu Li Khong Bao Nhat Cry is the latest Vietnamese film to win an award at a leading film festival in the world (Berlin) - Photo: Berlinale

My movie is not losing

Director Nguyen Vinh Son - artistic director of HIFF 2024 - said: "It is very regrettable that the Southeast Asian Film, First or Second Film awards do not have Vietnamese films competing."

He told the press on the sidelines of the opening ceremony: "It's not that we are inferior to others, but that our film production was not at the right time.

Pham Thien An won the first prize at Cannes, but was bound by distribution and copyright. Same with Pham Ngoc Lan, the first prize at Berlin.

I did not lose, it's just that my operations were not synchronized and not at the right point.

If the host country does not have a film, it must at least have an opening or closing film and a competition film. If there is a "virgin" film, showing it in the country, it is very valuable.

Tuoi Tre Online raised the issue that HIFF is a new film festival and is still young, so the rule of unreleased films is a barrier for competing films.

Director Nguyen Vinh Son replied: "That's right, because our film festival is a junior one, and is a bit more generous, but Cannes or Berlin require the premiere in their country, and cannot be shown anywhere, even domestically.

Once we release a film, it's already in the market, so the role of the festival jury is greatly reduced, so it has to be a new film this year, never released before, and with the conditions of our country, it might not have been released in Asia or something like that."

Mr. Son believes that HIFF's regulations should gradually be improved, requiring directors to bring films to Vietnam for the first time.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/khong-co-phim-viet-tranh-giai-quan-trong-o-hiff-la-ton-that-lon-20240407092116498.htm