Gathering many exceptional films

Camellia Sisters - The film being staged in Hue will participate in the film festival. Photo: Provided by the film crew

Gathering many excellent works

Officially taking place from November 18th to 20th in Hue, the 22nd Vietnam Film Festival is organized by the Cinema Department in coordination with the Department of Culture and Sports, under supervision of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Provincial People's Committee.

Taking place amidst the tremendous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 22nd Vietnam Film Festival will be held to show the efforts and determination of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, of the Provincial People's Committee and of filmmakers across the country to overcome difficulties in order to maintain a film festival that has gone through 21 sessions and to honor the excellent artists and cinematographic works.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong affirmed that this is one of the film festivals that the Ministry is trying very hard to organize during the epidemic situation; and to flexibly and proactively set up various plans to deal with the pandemic developments.

128 films from 42 units are participating in this year’s film festival, including 26 feature films, 56 documentaries, 15 scientific films, and 31 animated films. The films are rich in genres, topics, and forms of expression, reflecting the multi-faceted perspectives of life of Vietnamese film activists.

The category that attracts the most attention is the feature film, which gathers prominent names, such as: Dreamy Eyes, Blood Moon Party, Rom, Cau Vang, Camellia Sisters,… In the documentary category, there are also films that attract public opinion, such as Boundary by the director Ta Quynh Tu.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong said that in the challenging situation of the pandemic, Vietnamese cinema still witnessed the birth of many unique films and even blockbusters that conveyed humanistic value and meaningful messages. The pandemic has brought many aspects of life to a halt, but the spirit of creativity and overcoming difficulties has fueled Vietnamese cinema to make many breakthroughs.

One of the new features of this year's film festival is that in addition to honoring the country's filmmakers, the festival will become a bridge to bring cinematic works to the public via television and digital platforms. This approach demonstrates the cinema industry's adaptation to the new normal.

Approximately 10 films participating in the contest; and the panoramic films having got agreement on the copyright and age-restriction would be broadcasted on VTV and VTVGo from November 1 to 26.

Ensuring safety

Returning to Hue after 10 festivals (since 1999), the 22nd Vietnam Film Festival is an opportunity for Hue to introduce to the public and filmmakers its innovation and strong development of the Festival city, the city of unique cultural heritage, and tourism.

Vice-Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh said that the film festival is an opportunity for Hue to promote the image of a land with a rich culture, many historical relics, and famous landscapes.

“We will organize some local activities, taking this opportunity to restart tourism. In particular, we will introduce the cultural features of Hue associated with the film festival through the performance of Ao Dai, heritage tours, etc., to the participants and the audience. Having set such an important goal, the Provincial People's Committee established a local organizing committee, closely coordinating with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to develop scenarios and plans to ensure safety for delegates as well as the community,” Mr. Binh said.

Currently, the province has carefully calculated and made many plans to proactively respond appropriately to the pandemic situation. All of the facilities are already prepared for the film festival.

The health sector has also developed plans suitable to the COVID-19 epidemic situation, in which, the regulation of "One road, two destinations" will be applied to the guests attending film festival events to control the schedule and to support epidemic testing following the epidemic prevention and control regulations of the Ministry of Health.

Guests must have received 2 vaccine shots (COVID-19 green card) 14 days before attending, must comply 5K regulations, complete medical declarations, have negative test results by PCR method or rapid test after arriving in Hue.

To ensure disease control and prevention, the festival's programs will be held briefly, simply but with formality. The red carpet event is always an attractive event for film festivals, but this year, it will not be possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of guests will also be limited.

500 participants, of which 300 from other provinces, will attend the festival. In case the epidemic situation is well controlled, the Department of Tourism plans to organize a sightseeing tour for the participants. At the same time, the Organizing Committee will take into account the plan to show movies in theaters, ensure 5K and limit the audience to 50% capacity.

By Minh Hien