Young filmmaker Ngo Thi Thanh received the Vietnam Green Documentary Film Award first prize on May 29.
Thanh\'s film, The Sand, tells the story of sand quarrying in the Duong River, The Vo District in the northern province of Bac Ninh.
The USD1,000 first prize came as a big surprise to Thanh who said she was still not entirely satisfied with her work.
"The film still contains some technical mistakes. Because I shot the film using a hand-held camera, some scenes contain too much vibration," Thanh explained.
She wrote the film\'s script while visiting her home province of Bac Ninh, inspired by the chance meeting and subsequent discussion with her uncle who, like many other people throughout the province, is deeply concerned about erosion in the Duong River.
The Sand, edited from 5 hours down to 15 minutes and 43 seconds, tells the story of a boatman who has worked on the river for around 20 years.
Second and third prizes went to Pham Thu Hang for the film Hai Ly Village and the film Our Rice Tomorrow by Phan Thanh Thanh and Manon Aubel.
The film Where the Waves Lap by Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, was awarded a prize voted for by audiences before the award ceremony at the Hanoi Goethe Institute.
Vietnam Television (Channel 6) awarded an additional prize to the film The Empty Space by the Letk group.
All eight short-listed films would be aired on VTV6, said Ta Bich Loan, head of VTV6.
The Vietdocs – Vietnam Green Documentary Film Award competition, launched by the Goethe Institute in Vietnam, aims to encourage and support an upcoming generation of Vietnamese filmmakers in producing documentaries that reflect current issues.
