Controversial films to appear at National Film Festival

According to many, the three-day-long 18th Vietnam Film Festival may have be the most boring festival to date. 

Celebrities poses at the opening ceremony

The 18th Vietnam Film Festival was held from October 14 - 16 in Halong City, Quang Ninh Province. But it seems like many local people did not even know that the event was taking place near their homes. Vietnamese celebrities quietly walked along the red carpet without cheers from fans. Only artists and officials came to the opening ceremony.

Producer, Phuoc Sang, once said during a conference about movie making that he had decided to participate in the festival just to see how much the industry had improved. He commented, "I haven't seen any actual effort at all. This conference today seems to be very important but it only has producers and artists discussing with each other."

The film festival this year seriously was short on attendees, even though three theatres are located inside residential areas. Therefore, students from primary and secondary schools were asked to come and watch films.

This year, audiences that came to the festival were asked to vote for their favourite movies. However, the theatre was full of 7th grade students when it showed Bí mật thảm đỏ (Secrets of red carpet), a movie about the scandals of models and celebrities. The film included a number of love scenes.

One teacher said they did not know about the movie's content. "This movie is not really suitable for 7th graders, and the next audience is even younger."

Still, many artists are reluctant to discuss the quality of movies. However, director Dao Ba Son, who is also on the judging panel, optimistically said that a third of submitted movies this year were good. "We surprisingly discovered some good ones. Several good war movies were directed by young people." he said.

The movie Những Người Viết Huyền Thoại (The Legend Makers) is expected to win prizes. The movie is said to have good effects but its plot is also said to be weak. Meanwhile, about 20 private films have been deemed disasters, excluding the old names such as Thiên Mệnh Anh Hùng (Blood Letter) or Bí mật thảm đỏ (Secrets of red carpet).

The actor Vu Dinh Than said he once hoped for changes. "But the festival has been like this for many years so I abandoned my hope." he said.