Vietnamese movies raise voice to the world

Tuoi Tre has an interview with Ellen M. Harrington, Director of Exhibitions and Special Events, about the upcoming project called “New Voice from Vietnam” (NVFVN), enabling young Vietnamese directors to introduce their movies to the US audience.

You participated in Vietnam’s 16th National Film Festival in preparation for the NVFVN. Can you talk more about NVFVN?

The Vietnam Cinema Department responded very positively to an offer from the American Academy of Motion Picture to carry out this project. The department helped us screen and shortlisted the movies that we had selected.

Vietnam has a long film history and many talented film makers and valuable movies. The country is experiencing many changes. As a young nation with a majority of the population under 30, apparently there have developed many fresh and innovative ways of telling stories.

The structure of your country’s cinema managing system has also changed significantly. A private sector with many private film studios has emerged. We are delighted to see many Vietnamese investors accepting risks in an act of support and love for domestic movies.

What kind of support will the Vietnamese guests in NVFVN receive from the Academy? And what are their responsibilities during the event?

We have directly invited Vietnamese directors whose movies have been selected for screening at NVFVN. All expenses including visa fees are covered. Besides giving a talk to the audience about their movies, the directors, most of whom are very young, will have a busy schedule visiting big studios in Hollywood, learning new movie-making techniques and attending many networking events.

Director Dang Nhat Minh will be given an Academy Salute. Do you have any comments on his works? And why did you pick his movie “The Guava House” for screening?

Dang Nhat Minh is a pioneer film maker, not only in the Vietnamese film-making community. We are very glad when he accepted the Academy’s invitation to participate in this event. As the criteria allows for the selection of movies produced after 2000 only, we picked “The Guava House” instead of his previous other works. We also like “Don’t burn it!” made in 2009 but we think Americans love to see the daily life of Vietnamese people so “The Guava House” seems the best choice.

Vietnam does not have any movie nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film this year. Do you have any comment or advice for Vietnamese film makers and managers to improve the situation in the future?

The Vietnamese movie “The Scent of Green Papaya” directed by Tran Anh Hung was nominated for this category in the past. I believe Vietnamese movies will be mentioned again in Oscar Awards in the future. Maybe this year, you are busy with Vietnam International Film Festival and cannot submit any movie for entry.

However, I think the screening of Vietnamese movies at NVFVN is a testimony to the great potential of Vietnamese cinema, a film industry that has lots of opportunities to raise its profile and join in the global movie community.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science will organize an Academy Salute to the legendary Dang Nhat Minh, director of “Don’t Burn It” on November 10 at the world class theater Samuel Goldwyn, Los Angeles. This is a part of the “New Voices from Vietnam” Screening Series organized by the Academy in association with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Freer & Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution and the Vietnam Cinema Department.

Source: TuoiTre

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