Dang Nhat Minh, director of Vietnam’s latest wartime film Dung Dot

Vietnam’s latest wartime film Dung Dot (Don’t burn) on Saturday defeated 14 other competitors to win the best picture award – the Golden Lotus – at the country’s premier film festival.

Based on the war diary of martyred resistance army medic, the film, directed by Dang Nhat Minh, also won the Journalists’ Choice award voted by journalists and editors working in the field of arts and entertainment, as well as the Best Scriptwriter Award at the 16th Vietnam Film Festival.

Bui Thac Chuyen’s Choi Voi (Adrift), a psycho-sexual drama and one of the two most talked about together with Dung Dot at this year’s event, meanwhile, won the Best Director, the Best Cinematography and the Best Art Designer awards.

Critics have said the festival, with 99 works competing in four categories – features, documentaries, scientific films and animation – was predictable this year.

The next Vietnam Film Festival is planned to be held in the central town of Tuy Hoa, Phu Yen Province, in 2011.