Vietnam’s booming film industry which has seen commercial and big-money projects hitting the screens across the country in recent years, young and passionate independent filmmakers have shown they are not intimidated.
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| The Vietnamese poster of "Adrift", a movie by director Bui Thac Chuyen |
More and more independent films made by a community of closely-knit film artists have been produced despite considerable challenges in financing and distributing these films in a young cinema industry like Vietnam’s.
With a recent revival in cinema-going habits after some decades of interruption, the industry had not actually been familiarised with the ‘independent’ concept until a couple of years ago.
In fact, the first of these indie films came to be known in Vietnam nearly 2 decades ago, with the comeback of a generation of overseas Vietnamese directors.
Vietnamese-French Tran Anh Hung with his Oscar-nominated and Cannes-winning The Scent of Green Papaya (1993), Venice’s Golden Lion winner Cyclo (1995) and others is the most acclaimed representative of this wave.
More recent works of this genre are The Buffalo Boy by the Vietnamese-American Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh or the contemporary Owl and the Sparrow by another Vietnamese-American director, Stephane Gauger.
Unlike their predecessors, the newer waves of indie filmmakers, younger and of pure Vietnamese origin have to face many difficulties in bringing their films to the public.
For independent short films, especially an individual project like Ngay Chu nhat binh thuong (A normal Sunday), assistant director Nguyen Thi Da Thuong said the everlasting problem is finding financial resources for production.
Distribution channel is the next problem, Thuong said, as most independent short films would end up being shown in café shops for a small number of audiences.
Short films coming out of independent filmmaking competitions like the international“48 Hour Film Project” or “Online Short Film Competition Yxineff”, both are the most outstanding projects for indie filmmakers in Vietnam last year, seem to have a better fate.
“A Good Day To Die,” last year’s winning entry of “48 Hour Film Project” was chosen to be screened at the Cannes International Festival last May and at Megastar through the contest organizers’ connection.
Similarly, “L.O.V.E”, “The journey unknown” and other winning films of the “Online Short Film Competition Yxineff 2010” have been screened online on the project’s website.
However, “In Vietnam, filmmakers make short films mainly to express their passion,” Thuong shared, as apparently there has not been an easy and sustainable way out for their products.
For indie movies, even established names in the industry like director Phan Dang Di who won ACID and SACD Award at Cannes Film Festival 2010 have to struggle with funding for their next projects.
Like Di, well known directors Nguyen Vinh Son, Nguyen Thanh Van or Pham Nhue Giang, have to find sponsors from international film festivals or cultural foundations.
“Attending one festival may not bring money right away, but making connection with potential investors is extremely important to producers and filmmakers nowadays,” Vinh said.
Money aside, when a movie is completed, there is a high chance it cannot make its way into many cinemas across Vietnam, as such films do not make much profit.
Art films like Adrift by Bui Thac Chuyen, Bi, don’t be afraid by Phan Dang Di or The moon at the bottom of the well by Nguyen Vinh Son all have to derive support from cultural funds or foreign producers.
Kim Ji Soek, director of the Pusan International Film Festival said filmmakers, producers and writers have to send their scripts to international festivals or foreign producers.
“While filming, they have to figure out how to recoup the capital as well,” he suggested.