Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai and Deputy Minister Ta Quang Dong presented flowers to Mr. Kim Dong Ho and director Dao Ba Son - honorary president of HIFF and director Nguyen Vinh Son - artistic director and director Aaron Toronto - deputy artistic director of HIFF - Photo: Dung Phuong
In its first edition, the Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (HIFF) this year has three competition categories: Southeast Asian Film, First or Second Film and Short Film.
In the two categories for feature films, Southeast Asian Film and First or Second Film, no Vietnamese film participated.
Vietnamese films only have a few representatives in the Short Film category. The Southeast Asian Film Award is considered the most important award this time, but Vietnamese films are absent.
Vietnamese films are quite absent in the home market.
Regarding this, director Dao Ba Son - honorary president of HIFF - commented that this is a very regrettable thing, but we are forced to follow the rules.
"I don't believe that Vietnamese films are not of good quality. We have many very good films. The only thing is that we have a rule that the films in the competition must be newly produced and not yet released.
This rule ties our hands and feet. If we expand the rules, we will have more good and fair films participating.
That's a big disadvantage. There are movies that have been released but they still edit and improve them."
Two highly anticipated Vietnamese films are Inside the Golden Cocoon by Pham Thien An and Cu Li Khong Bao Nhat Cry by Pham Ngoc Lan - two films that won awards for best debut film at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals.
Due to their release or release, both films cannot attend HIFF 2024.
Director Pham Thien An has a work in the top 24 best films of 2023 with Inside the Golden Cocoon - Photo: TTD
Inside the Golden Cocoon has attended several film festivals and has been released in the Vietnamese and foreign markets. Meanwhile, Cu Li Never Cries is being considered by the director to attend several other film festivals before being released in Vietnam.
If they attend HIFF, these two films may also have a chance to compete for the award for Best Southeast Asian Film - the festival's most important award.
"Using the word loss is a bit too much, but it is really a pity for these two films. But when we enter the international arena, we have to be fair and square," said director Dao Ba Son.
Pham Ngoc Lan's Cu Li Khong Bao Nhat Cry is the latest Vietnamese film to win an award at a leading film festival in the world (Berlin) - Photo: Berlinale
My movie is not losing
Director Nguyen Vinh Son - artistic director of HIFF 2024 - said: "It is very regrettable that there is no Vietnamese film competing for the Southeast Asian Film, First or Second Film awards."
He told the press on the sidelines of the opening ceremony: "It's not that we're inferior to others, it's just that our film production didn't fall at the right time.
Pham Thien An won the first prize at Cannes, which is number one, but is bound by distribution and copyright. Same with Pham Ngoc Lan, who won the first prize at Berlin.
I didn't lose, it's just that my operations were not synchronized and not at the right point.
If the host country does not have a film, it must at least have an opening or closing film and a competition film. If there is a "virgin" film, released in the country, it is very valuable.
Tuoi Tre Online raised the issue that HIFF is a new and young film festival, so the rule of unreleased films is a barrier for competing films.
Director Nguyen Vinh Son replied: "That's right, because our film festival is a junior, and is a bit more generous, but Cannes or Berlin require premieres in their country, not screenings anywhere else, even domestically.
Once we release a film, it's already in the market, so the role of the festival jury is greatly reduced, so it has to be a new film this year, never released before, and with our country's conditions, it might not have been released in Asia or something."
Mr. Son believes that HIFF's regulations should gradually be improved, requiring directors to bring films to Vietnam for the first time.
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