A group of high school students in Ho Chi Minh City have produced a film which has become an Internet hit.
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| The cast and crew of the film "Try 1" |
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| A scene from the film |
The film is titled “Try 1” and was made by a group of pupils at Nguyen Chi Thanh High School in Ho Chi Minh City. It has attracted millions of views on YouTube and is a lively, interesting picture of student life.
The film focuses on a main character, Nam, who lives in a poor family and is often teased by stubborn peers in his class but gets good studying results. Life of the boy, played by Nguyen Son Lam, is more eventful and even complicated when a beautiful girl joins his class.
Characters and situations in the film are based on real stories and experiences of the group members; therefore, they give viewers true feelings on contradiction among friends and love.
Initially, the group of 8 boys intended to record several funny images to keep as a memory however, once they got started they decided to make these into a film and invited a girl to join them. It took them from September 2009 to February 2010 to complete making the film.
The students took advantage of breaks and time after studying as well as Sundays for the film production. The school teachers and their friends simply thought that they were doing this for fun. They were surprised at the activities until the film received praise from the Internet community and many others local schools.
The film has become extremely popular and pirate disks of the film have been sold at many shops in Ho Chi Minh City with the name “Errant school” or “Giang Ho Hoc Duong” at prices between VND10,000 and VND15,000 each.
“We feel uncomfortable to see our film sold, particularly when its name has been changed, leading to a public misunderstanding on its content,” Lam said.
Vice Principal of Nguyen Chi Thanh High School, Nguyen Ty Che Dat, said he had not yet watched the whole film, thus, he could not give a comprehensive comment on its content. Dat, however, is extremely surprised at the group’s attractive filming technique and performance.
“The film helps us to understand more about the potential capacity and ambition of our students,” Dat added, noting that “It has also indicated a fact that pupils are in dire need of their own playing field to fully express their ability.”
After the success of their first film, the group has decided to make a sequel in which Nam’s dream comes true, sending a message that “We can do everything with some effort”. The followup film is expected to be launched on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi [October 10].
