The biennial National Film Festival will officially kick off on October14 in the northern province of Quang Ninh's Ha Long City. According tothe culture ministry's Department of Cinematography, up to 139 works ofcinematography will vie for the Golden Lotus Award for best featurefilm, science documentary and animation.
Head of thedepartment and the festival's organising board Ngo Phuong Lan spoke toCulture Vulture about the festival and the nation's film industry.
* Compared to previous national film festivals, what makes the 18th different?
This film festival sees the largest number of entries, with 139 in allthree categories: feature film and video, science documentary andanimation, compared to 108 in the 2011 festival. This shows anencouraging sign for the success of the event.
It's noteworthythat the most highly anticipated area of the film industry, featuremovies, has 23 contributions, five higher than the 17th festival. Theremarkable increase in the number of entries is also accompanied by thesignificant rise of participants. We are doing our utmost to provide thebest logistics services for around 1,000 people including the personnelin the country's film industry and international guests.
Guests from France, South Korea and the Philippines, as well as foreigndiplomats and heads of foreign culture centres based in Viet Nam, areexpected to join the festival's sideline activities, including twoworkshops titled Cinema with Quang Ninh Province and Tourism Developmentthrough Cinema, and Filmmaking and Distributing Co-operation.
This festival's award ceremony will include an important, audience-votedaward. The audience's vote will be conducted completely unbiased underthe observance of the public.
Many hold that a film is awarded,or not, depending on the criteria of each festival as well as thejury's sense, thus, a winner may not be better than a loser. What do youthink?
This film festival conveys an obvious message"Vietnam's Cinema – national, humane, creative and integrating". This isthe fundamental basis for the jury to mark competing movies. Any workthat satisfies these four criteria will be awardable. To make it clear, awork that is of high national identity, of creative interpretation oflanguage and integration effectiveness, and with content showing deephumanism, will be the one.
The film festival will not seek forfilms that may be excellent regarding the content but lack the languageof cinematography or professionalism.
It's a matter of fact,for any award there always exists two different flows of opinion. Ourmain target is not to satisfy all. Each festival aims at selecting worksmeeting its criteria, and these winning works will contain certainvalues that will help orient the nation's film makers in the future. Wemake it clear that the national film festival is a professionaloperation. An award-winning movie will be a true cinematography work.
* Could you provide an overview of the quality of the entry?
It's not easy to say. As head of the organising board, I do not wantto reveal my own assessment. I trust the jury and let them have theirown decision.
The three juries for the three categories ofentries are made up from 21 prestigious people in the film industry whoare completely uninvolved in the competition's works. We expect theywill act as "filters" to single out the quintessential works, from whichwe can build up a standard for the national cinema industry in thecoming time.
We are encouraging a diversified development ofthe country's film industry. Each type of movies is designed for aparticular type of audience. Therefore, there is always a gap amongcinematography works. As a result, films participating in a festival arepretty diversified.
* Will an award help the winners achieve marked success in the market?
We, the organisers, always aim for that end. Entries include four newfilms in the market. Except for one, chosen to be screened at film week[last month] to celebrate the film festival, the other three will bescreened for the first time at the film festival. Cinemas will open freefor the public to view all 139 films during the three-day festival.
* What do you expect?
One of the key activities of any cinema industry is the film festival.Of course, many countries in the world focus on international filmfestivals rather than national film festivals. Thus, we should notcompare our festival with others. Vietnam's National Film Festival isan ample opportunity for all involved in the national cinema industry toget together to exchange, learn from each other and discuss ideas for abetter future of the industry.
Integration is one of thefestival's criteria. Therefore, we expect that Vietnamese movies will bewelcome and reach more people worldwide.-VNA
Head of thedepartment and the festival's organising board Ngo Phuong Lan spoke toCulture Vulture about the festival and the nation's film industry.
* Compared to previous national film festivals, what makes the 18th different?
This film festival sees the largest number of entries, with 139 in allthree categories: feature film and video, science documentary andanimation, compared to 108 in the 2011 festival. This shows anencouraging sign for the success of the event.
It's noteworthythat the most highly anticipated area of the film industry, featuremovies, has 23 contributions, five higher than the 17th festival. Theremarkable increase in the number of entries is also accompanied by thesignificant rise of participants. We are doing our utmost to provide thebest logistics services for around 1,000 people including the personnelin the country's film industry and international guests.
Guests from France, South Korea and the Philippines, as well as foreigndiplomats and heads of foreign culture centres based in Viet Nam, areexpected to join the festival's sideline activities, including twoworkshops titled Cinema with Quang Ninh Province and Tourism Developmentthrough Cinema, and Filmmaking and Distributing Co-operation.
This festival's award ceremony will include an important, audience-votedaward. The audience's vote will be conducted completely unbiased underthe observance of the public.
Many hold that a film is awarded,or not, depending on the criteria of each festival as well as thejury's sense, thus, a winner may not be better than a loser. What do youthink?
This film festival conveys an obvious message"Vietnam's Cinema – national, humane, creative and integrating". This isthe fundamental basis for the jury to mark competing movies. Any workthat satisfies these four criteria will be awardable. To make it clear, awork that is of high national identity, of creative interpretation oflanguage and integration effectiveness, and with content showing deephumanism, will be the one.
The film festival will not seek forfilms that may be excellent regarding the content but lack the languageof cinematography or professionalism.
It's a matter of fact,for any award there always exists two different flows of opinion. Ourmain target is not to satisfy all. Each festival aims at selecting worksmeeting its criteria, and these winning works will contain certainvalues that will help orient the nation's film makers in the future. Wemake it clear that the national film festival is a professionaloperation. An award-winning movie will be a true cinematography work.
* Could you provide an overview of the quality of the entry?
It's not easy to say. As head of the organising board, I do not wantto reveal my own assessment. I trust the jury and let them have theirown decision.
The three juries for the three categories ofentries are made up from 21 prestigious people in the film industry whoare completely uninvolved in the competition's works. We expect theywill act as "filters" to single out the quintessential works, from whichwe can build up a standard for the national cinema industry in thecoming time.
We are encouraging a diversified development ofthe country's film industry. Each type of movies is designed for aparticular type of audience. Therefore, there is always a gap amongcinematography works. As a result, films participating in a festival arepretty diversified.
* Will an award help the winners achieve marked success in the market?
We, the organisers, always aim for that end. Entries include four newfilms in the market. Except for one, chosen to be screened at film week[last month] to celebrate the film festival, the other three will bescreened for the first time at the film festival. Cinemas will open freefor the public to view all 139 films during the three-day festival.
* What do you expect?
One of the key activities of any cinema industry is the film festival.Of course, many countries in the world focus on international filmfestivals rather than national film festivals. Thus, we should notcompare our festival with others. Vietnam's National Film Festival isan ample opportunity for all involved in the national cinema industry toget together to exchange, learn from each other and discuss ideas for abetter future of the industry.
Integration is one of thefestival's criteria. Therefore, we expect that Vietnamese movies will bewelcome and reach more people worldwide.-VNA
