Returning to Vietnam after ten days at the Cannes Film Festival, young director Phan Dang Di said excitedly: “I’m about to have half of a million USD to shoot ‘Bi, don’t be afraid’ this year’s end”.
This was the first Cannes Film Festival to have over 10 Vietnamese and overseas Vietnamese film producers.
“Bi, don’t be afraid” goes to Cannes Film Fest
Seeking opportunities
Director Bui Thac Chuyen was present at Cannes 2008 to meet some partners who will help him distribute a movie entitled “Lonely”, which is about to be shot.
Staying several days at Cannes, the director went to Paris to meet with Vietnamese French actress Pham Linh Dan (perhaps Dan has invited her to play a role in Lonely).
On his blog, the director invites people to audition for his film and he has received over 400 online registrations.
Many Vietnamese film producers went to Cannes to seek the great opportunity of their life, including Phan Dang Di.
At Cannes 2008, Jimmy Nghiem Pham, a Vietnamese American movie director, who owns Chanh Phuong Film Studio in Vietnam, helped Di contact 4-6 foreign investors each day and the organising board of the Venice Film Festival (Italy) to pave the way for “Bi, don’t be afraid” to come to this festival.
After Cannes 2008, Di said he had modern equipment to shoot “Bi, don’t be afraid” and foreign investors will soon answer whether they will provide the remaining capital for the project.
A network for Vietnamese films
At Cannes 2008, there was a booth for the Vietnamese film, G14. Nguyen Bao Mai, Vietnam Media Corp.’s manager, said: “This year we brought 54 Vietnamese films to Cannes, both new and old, to market to foreign partners. Films that have attracted attention are Little Heart, the White Silk Dress, Hanoi Hanoi, Pao’s Story, and Dien Bien Memory”.
Director Nguyen Thanh Van’s Little Heart, which won five awards at the Golden Kite 2007, was screened twice at Cannes Fair.
“I like Little Heart because it bravely reflects a corner of a changing life rhythm in your contemporary life. This is the right way if you want to bring your films to the world,” said Anderson Le, Director of Hawaii International Film Festival.
Bao Mai said Vietnam Media Corp. had to pay to advertise Vietnamese films but it accepts the loss to pursue the goal of adding Vietnamese films to the international professional film distribution network. Since 2004, the firm has hired a booth at Cannes to introduce Vietnamese films. It sold White Silk Dress to over ten countries, earning around $200,000.
Vietnamese film producers are looking towards the Cannes Film Festival with many hopes and dreams. For a country that produces around ten feature films a year, the way to Cannes is perhaps a very long one.
(Source: TT)
