'Thanh Loc deserves the Mai Vang award, but I support the younger generation'

On January 11, in Ho Chi Minh City, the Mai Vang Awards continued to hold awards ceremonies for a number of categories before the official awards night, due to limited time for the live awards night program.

The program also included an exchange with artists who won the Mai Vang Award such as: People's Artist Viet Anh, Meritorious Artist Tu Suong, and artist Quoc Thao.

Sharing about the categories of this year's stage awards, People's Artist Viet Anh and Director Quoc Thao both expressed their support for young talents instead of the "familiar" names with the Mai Vang awards.

Specifically, when asked to comment on the two artists competing in the Stage category, Thanh Loc and Vo Minh Lam, director Quoc Thao frankly said that this award is "within reach" of artist Thanh Loc.

However, in the director's opinion, he supports young artists appearing in the program to motivate them to develop and go further in their careers.

“In the past, I was also a young director. In my second work, I received the Mai Vang award. This is the motivation for me to continue to strive in my career. So I strongly support young people if they deserve it. I know that with his talent, Thanh Loc is very worthy of the award, but if possible, I am more inclined to support young people,” director Quoc Thao expressed.

Artist Quoc Thao believes that awards should prioritize young artists and new works.

People's Artist Viet Anh agrees with director Quoc Thao that young faces should appear.

The fact that famous artists remake old successful plays is also a fairly old play. This makes the creativity of young people not be properly evaluated.

“If we keep re-staging classic plays with good scripts, it will be difficult for the current generation to compete. I encourage us to give space to young artists and young directors,” said People’s Artist Viet Anh.

People's Artist Viet Anh believes that young artists are at a disadvantage when competing with big names, and there needs to be changes in the nomination process.

Sharing about the program's memories, the thing that impressed artist Quoc Thao the most was that at the Mai Vang award ceremony in 2000, the event took place at Suoi Tien Cultural Park, he had to travel by motorbike from stage 5B to the place to receive the award.

Artist Quoc Thao won the Mai Vang directing award in 2000 and 2002 with the plays Love Teacher and Love Night .

Artist Quoc Thao said: “We didn’t have cars to go around. Many artists drove each other on two-wheelers. Besides me winning the director award, there were also actors who won awards. Cat Phuong did her own makeup at stage 5B before leaving. When she arrived at the award ceremony, Cat Phuong had one fake eyelash still on one side and one missing.

Seeing that scene, the actors and artists felt great sympathy for each other. You have overcome many obstacles and difficulties to receive the award. The award is not something too big, but it is a milestone to look back on what you have done in the past year. Every time I win an award, I have more motivation to continue on the path of art."

Also on January 11, Mai Vang Organizing Committee announced and awarded the "Outstanding Cultural and Artistic" category. According to the jury's evaluation criteria, Cultural and Artistic works must summarize the importance of protecting and building the Fatherland and honor the achievements of Ho Chi Minh City.

Based on the above criteria, writer Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc was awarded with the script collection Co dao hat. This work includes 6 scripts that have been staged into many stage plays and reformed operas.

Among them, the most prominent is the stage work The Singing Actress, adapted from the short story The Virtuous Woman by writer Nguyen Quang Sang, directed by Meritorious Artist Hoa Ha for the first time in 1998 with the participation of famous cai luong artists such as the late Meritorious Artist Vu Linh (as interpreter Liem), Meritorious Artist Phuong Hong Thuy (actress Cam Thanh).

Writer Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc is currently in the US, so writer Bich Ngan, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association, received the award on her behalf.

According to writer Bich Ngan, without a good script there is no good play and bringing a literary script to the stage is not easy, so many writers avoid, or rarely pursue, this genre.

This award aims to encourage writers to continue to persevere, be creative, and create valuable works.

Trinh Trang

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