Ben Trong Vo Ken Vang (Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell), a film by Pham Thien An, one of the winners of the 2018 CJ Short Filmmaking Project, won the Caméra d’Or Award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. (Photo: jkfilm.vn) Park said Vietnam should seek support from Asian countriesin sharing infrastructure and human resources, and improvingstorytelling.
He also emphasised to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the filmindustry between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK).
He gave the example of NhaBa Nu (The House of No Man), a successful cooperation betweenVietnamese filmmakers and Korean distributor CJ HK Entertainment, whosuccessfully distributed the movie in Vietnam and foreign markets.
The directorial debut of film producer Tran Thanh became the highest-grossingVietnamese film of all time, earning 450 billion VND (19 million USD). It alsoachieved more than 560,000 USD a week after release in the US in March.
Park mentioned that Korea’s capital, experience, and global distributionchannel combined with Vietnam’s human resources, creativity, andlocation created the success of the movie.
Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, deputy director of the Vietnam Cinema Department, said thecooperation between the department and CJ ENM has earned many achievementsover the years.
In 2014, the department cooperated with CJ ENM in a programmecalled “Art House” to support and screen films by Vietnamese independentdirectors who won top prizes at national and international film festivals.
In 2016, they signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the filmindustry, including the CJ Short Film Making Project, where many Vietnamesefilmmakers received financial support to make their own short films, and fromthere develop them into feature films.
Ha said the CJ Short Film Making Project was first held in 2018,discovering many talented filmmakers such as Pham Thien An.
An was one of the winners of the 2018 contest with the short film Hay Thuc Tinh và San Sang (Stay Awake,Be Ready). The film later turned into his debut feature film, Ben Trong Vo Ken Vang (Inside theYellow Cocoon Shell), which brought the director the Caméra d’Or Award at the2023 Cannes Film Festival.
According to Park, Vietnam needs to have a support system for independentfilmmakers from governments and businesses to make art movies, because themovie industry must consist of both commercial and art movies.
He said KOFIC planned to provide funds of 22.8-85.4billion KRW (17.23 million-64.76 million USD) for Korean filmmakers in2023.
He also recommended developing facilities for filming such asvirtual production studios and post-production, as well as open schools toeducate filmmakers, film crews, and technicians.
In the workshop on the film industry held in HCM City this week, KOFIC chairmanexpressed his wish to increase cooperation between KOFIC and the Korean Academyof Film Arts with Vietnam in the future.
Ha of the Cinema Department said, “It is a precious and practicalopportunity to boost the development of Vietnam’s cultural industry in general,and the film industry in particular.”/.
VNA
