A scene in 'Under the shade of a tree'

Lagging behind

Even though 3-D animation is not new to Vietnam, many films such as "The Adventures of Yellow Bee", and "The Story of Two Vases", having been introduced since as early as 2003, they were generally not big box office hits.

Even while foreign filmmakers expanded the medium to the Vietnamese market, attracting both children and adults, the production of this film format in Vietnam has been lacking.

After around 10 years, a stagnant situation in the Vietnamese film industry, many people are starting to point out the shortcomings of the films produced here, including weak scripts and lack of production value.

It was not until the huge financial success of such 3-D hits, such as "Toy Story" and "Ice Age", that the Vietnamese film industry started to take real notice of this new format. 

A willing audience

The Little Match Girl will be released this Christmas

In May, a group of Vietnamese young film makers introduced their first product named Dưới bóng cây (Under the shade of a tree) and it gained some positive feedback from audience and critics. This has encouraged them to make a second film, "The Little Match Girl", which some said came very close to the quality of internationally produced films.

The domestic audience still seems to be waiting for Vietnamese-made films, despite the fact that movies from abroad still flood the market. Even films which are not as high quality as foreign ones are attracting significant audiences.

Young, local filmmakers are showing a determination to keep up with the latest technology. After the success of "Under the Shade of a Tree", "The Little Match Girl", to be released this Christmas, is hoped to garner wide success, which would lend some more prestige to the Vietnamese film industry.