Raising the “cinematic kite” to reach higher

For 20 years since its debut in 2003, the Golden Kite Awards has been increasingly innovated towards a larger scale and stature. This year, for the first time, the organising board introduced the Wall of Fame honouring award-winning works and individuals with outstanding contributions to Vietnamese cinema with 433 stars representing 107 works and 297 individuals, including authors, artists, actors, filmmakers, and 29 veteran cinematographers.

The movie “Tro tan ruc ro” (Glorious ashes), which was honoured as the “Best Featured Film”, was a convincing victory. It was adapted from two short stories entitled “Tro tan ruc ro” (Glorious ashes) and “Cui muc troi ve dau” (Floating rotten wood) by writer Nguyen Ngoc Tu. After seven years of incubation, the film hit theatres in early December 2022, attracting viewers to the fate of "ruined people" (Nguyen Ngoc Tu's words) in a small and miserable village of the southern region. There, there are women who live with resignation for love, highlighting an outstanding message that happiness must be grasped by people themselves.

Shedding her youthful and sharp appearance, Phuong Anh Dao, a potential actress, played the role of a rural woman with a simple appearance. She is highly appreciated for the many delicate interior scenes that make viewers feel the psychological developments and deep pain of the character right in the rhythm of daily life or when an incident occurs. The setting of an area with interlaced canals, thatched roofs, and colourful traditional activities appears vividly on the big screen.

At the 2023 Golden Kite Awards, director Bui Thac Chuyen was also honoured as the Best Director. This is an achievement worthy of his enthusiasm and talent for an art film with breakthroughs in perspective, creativity, and the efforts to call for investment for many years.

Vietnam Television won the most prizes with a total of 16. The TV series “Me Rom” (Sunshine hearts) by director Nguyen Phuong Dien won the gold award in the TV series category.

Actor Thai Hoa made a strong impression by receiving a double award, including “Best Actor” for TV series “Me Rom” and the “Best Actor” for the featured film entitled “Con Nhot mot chong” (Nhot is in a hurry to find husband). Meanwhile, Thu Trang was named “Best Actress” for the featured film “Con Nhot mot chong”.

Over about three months of broadcasting, “Me Rom” created an impression and affection with the viewers through simple content with a close and rustic narrative. In the movie, people in a poor village, whether good or bad, have their own feelings and destiny. After a long journey with all kinds of moods and changes in their life, they all realise that human love cannot be bought by money.

In addition to the story of the familial bond being pushed to a climax with the “knots and openings”, viewers can also enjoy a new space with beautiful images when most of the film's scenes were taken in Phan Rang (Ninh Thuan Province).

Through the 2023 Golden Kite Awards, viewers can see the diversity of topics and ways of expression by filmmakers. In the feature film segment, private filmmakers have made more efforts and breakthroughs in exploiting topics imbued with the breath of life. Among them, there were films gaining high box office revenue and those that have been highly appreciated for their artistic and creative values and have won international awards. This shows the increasingly high professional requirements of the awards.

For example, “Tro tan ruc ro” won the top prize at Three Continents Film Festival held in France. Approaching the creative and artistic trends of the world cinema is a requirement for domestic filmmakers in the current context to gradually contribute to raising the “cinematic kite” to reach higher and farther.

Chairman of the Vietnam Cinema Association Do Lenh Hung Tu shared in addition to efforts by the film industry, the outstanding results were thanks to the attention of the State and authorities at all levels in making policies to encourage, reduce taxes, and invite more foreign investment to Vietnam. Another noteworthy point is that fine arts, music, and several other cultural and artistic industries have been working closely with cinema to create the spread and connection, thus forming a cultural industry.

One of the goals of the Cinema Development Strategy until 2030 is to develop towards a specific art industry that can generate economic profits, gradually striving to develop the Vietnamese cinema industry into a spearhead cultural industry that can promote economic growth.

However, domestic cinema still faces many difficulties, with up to 80% of cinema complexes in the country being foreign-owned, not to mention the limited investment in Vietnamese movies. It is essential to make both synchronous and specific solutions to encourage creativity and attract investment in cinema.