Vietnamese student film prompts Asian jury to create new category

Not only did the two Vietnamese students win a special nomination for the most creative idea at the university's film premiere, the graduation film project also prompted the judges of the Asian short film competition CinemaSHORT Asia to create a new category for awards.

Recognize creativity and fresh spirit

The film How a pandemic ends is the graduation project of Dang Thuy Trang and Nguyen Le Uyen Thu, majoring in media technology management at Hoa Sen University, with a length of more than 13 minutes. The film by the two Vietnamese students made a strong impression on the judges of CinemaSHORT Asia (Asian short film competition).

The film tells the story of the friendship of four senior students. Among them, Minh - a close friend and the bond that binds the group together - suddenly becomes the world's first zombie. The three remaining friends are forced to face a life-or-death choice: one is to recklessly bring Minh into the city in the hope of finding a cure, but that means pushing the whole world into a pandemic disaster; two is to preserve everyone's lives, they must kill the zombie together, even though it is their dearest friend. In the end, the friends had to choose option 2.

A scene from the short film “How a pandemic ends” - PHOTO: NVCC

Dang Thuy Trang shared: "The theme of the film is the connection of the relationships around us. And over time, things will be lost, and so will those connections. What I learned is to accept that fact. However, what I want to say further is: the fact that we lose some good things over time does not reduce the value of that time."

It is known that How a Pandemic Ends was made in about 10 months, from the beginning of the idea, script, pre-production, post-production.

According to Trang, this film is like a farewell between Trang and Thu to their time as students, and it is also a profound lesson that Trang learned after experiencing separation.

Film making background - PHOTO: NVCC

After completion, Trang and her film were submitted to CinemaSHORT Asia 2025, organized by CinemaWorld (Singapore) for the third time in May, gathering 699 projects from young filmmakers from 25 countries and territories. Vietnam is one of the three countries with the largest number of participating films.

Vietnam had three films shortlisted for the festival to compete in the official categories. However, only How a pandemic ends was the only Vietnamese film to be honored, with a Special Mention award from the jury.

According to the email sent by the competition's judges to the group of authors, the CinemaSHORT organizers felt that the film "How An Apocalypse Ends " was worthy of honor, so they created the Special Mention category to recognize the film's creativity and fresh spirit. Judge Josune Hahnheiser commented: "The film has a new, dynamic, and rebellious way of making it."

From faculty premieres to major awards

At the EOS 2025 Gala screening organized by the Faculty of Marketing and Communication at Hoa Sen University on the evening of September 14, Trang and Thu's film was one of 31 projects by students majoring in media technology management selected for screening and judging. The joy continued when this short film was awarded the Special Mention for Best Innovation Idea.

Dang Thuy Trang (left) and Nguyen Le Uyen Thu - PHOTO: NVCC

EOS is known to be an annual event held since 2015. Here, the best products of students will be selected and shown in cinemas.

After 10 years, EOS has had the participation of nearly 4,000 students with more than 700 works in many genres (short films, documentaries, TVCs, MVs, TV shows...) being released. Among them, many films have won awards at competitions such as Mother-in-law won first prize in the "No Blame" media composition contest organized by the Center for Research and Application of Science on Gender - Family - Women and Adolescents in Vietnam in 2020; Brothers of this Life entered the TOP 5 of the CJ Short Film Project and received a sponsorship of 300 million VND from CJ CGV.

In particular, the film Moi Dem by student Nguyen Ho Bao Nghi won 2 awards at Xine Xem Fest 2024: Best Short Film and Best Editing. At the same time, Moi Dem was also selected to be screened at many film festivals in Vietnam and the region such as Asong ( Da Nang ) and LENscape: Short Documentaries from Southeast Asia (2024-2025,   Singapore and Indonesia)...

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/phim-cua-sinh-vien-viet-khien-ban-giam-khao-chau-a-tao-them-hang-muc-moi-185250916151652612.htm