Cinema film producers have not been able to produce any new films in recent years, as they have yet to get state funding due to the lack of a circular on cinema film auction.

Cat Nong or Hot Sand, a film using state funds criticised by the public as “boring”

Nguyen Thi Hong Ngat, former Deputy Director of the Cinema Department said the government has set aside VND93 billion (USD4.4 million) for film production including VND48 billion (USD2.27 million) for 2012 and VND45 billion (USD2.13 million) for 2013.

“To date, none of the funding has been disbursed even though three films about history, political leaders and contemporary times were approved as of late 2011 and the Ministry of Finance has allotted funding for each film since August,” Ngat said.

She blamed the situation on the lack of a circular to guide the auctioning process using state funding. Now several film producers have become idle as they do not have their own funding sources.

Nguyen Thi Minh, Deputy Minister of Finance, said, “We’ve just asked for an investigation of the issue and disbursement will be made if all phases of the process run smoothly.”

Nguyen Thanh Van, Deputy Director of Vietnam Feature Film Studio, attributed the problems, not to a lack of funding, but to the complicated procedures.

Some said that films which use state funds that are often put on the bottom of the list for receiving money are given to those productions claiming an urgent schedule.

Recently, Nguyen Thi Minh said that the sluggish disbursement has resulted from a lack of related guiding legal documents under the Law on Cinema, which requires the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to negotiate with film studios but the ministry is not really familiar with such procedures.

Meanwhile, Ngat suggested an amendment to current law so as to simplify procedures and foster film production.