Scene from Dong Mau Anh Hung - a successful Vietnamese film that has given a boost to the local industry.

Many shake their heads at the state of the Vietnamese film industry, but there’s much to be proud of.

But when I stop and think about it, I see that the Vietnamese film industry is not doing too bad at all. The strides it has made in just the last few years are nothing short of amazing. Let’s take a closer look.

First successes

It used to be that when you mentioned Vietnamese movies, people thought you were talking about “Platoon.” Then Vietnamese-French filmmaker Tran Anh Hung came along in the mid-90’s with Scent of Green Papaya and Cyclo, making him the first celebrity Vietnamese director in the international art film community.

Soon after him came the Bui brothers from America “Three Seasons”, and since then more foreign-born and residing Vietnamese have followed in their footsteps.

More recently, Doan Minh Phuong’s Hat Mua Roi Bao Lau (Bride of Silence) and Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh’s Mua Len Trau (Buffalo Boy) gained critical success in both local and international scenes.

Sure, Viet kieu (overseas Vietnamese) filmmakers making movies overseas, releasing them overseas then winning awards for them overseas is all well and good, but what about Vietnamese Vietnamese filmmakers?

In the past few years, many domestic filmmakers have been making names for themselves in international film festivals. Mua Oi (Guava Season), Doi Cat (Sandy Life), Vua Bai Rac (Foul King), and Song Trong So Hai (Living in Fear) have all played or won awards at international festivals around the world. Currently, Trai Tim Be Bong (The Little Heart), directed by Nguyen Thanh Van, is up for a best film prize at this year’s Bangkok International Film Festival. Quality Vietnamese filmmaking is not as hard to find as same would think.

Escaping the catch-22

Granted, art films are nice, but any art film community needs a healthy commercial industry to support it. The lack of such an industry has created no small amount of angst here for many years.

The main problem with the commercial film industry in Vietnam has been money. Filmmakers are caught in a catch-22. There’s no money to make good films, and because the films that are made aren’t very good, they don’t make any money.

This has been a big problem for a long time - but things are beginning to change. Not only has the number of high-quality theaters in Vietnam exploded in the last two years (check out the Galaxy or Megastar cineplexes) budgets and revenues for locally-produced movies have finally begun to leave the basement.

The trend started with 2003’s Gai Nhay (Bar Girls), a movie about the seedy world of prostitution. People lined up around the block to catch the film and suddenly investors and filmmakers realized that for the first time in a long time feature films could actually make money in Vietnam.

Though the economic scale is still modest, this commercial engine is gaining steam. This past Tet (Lunar New Year) season, Galaxy Film Studio’s Nu Hon Than Chet (Kiss of Death) set a new box-office record for a Vietnamese film, raking in over US$1 million. The commercial industry in Vietnam is slowly working its way out of the economic doldrums.

Coming home to roost

The last couple of years have seen an influx of overseas Vietnamese filmmaking talent beginning to work here.

Viet kieu filmmakers no longer seem to be content with making art films in their adopted countries. They are moving to Vietnam to make movies intended for local audiences.

This new trend has produced some remarkable films. Ao Lua Ha Dong (The White Silk Dress), for instance, is a moving story of the struggles a Vietnamese family endures over several decades. Dong Mau Anh Hung (The Rebel) is a character-driven martial arts movie that takes place in 1930’s Vietnam. Its mix of spicy action, a unique setting and dark, conflicted characters took the country by storm last year. One movie that I’m really looking forward to next year is Lua Phat (Monk on Fire). It’s a genre-bending futuristic martial arts movie from the makers of “The Rebel.”

The future is bright for Vietnamese cinema. With domestic cinema gaining respectability overseas, the industry finding traction economically, and an influx of passionate and talented overseas Vietnamese, I’m excited to be working here right now. In fact, the next time I hear a Vietnamese filmmaker asking when the local industry will finally grow up, I’ll say: “It already is.”

By Aaron Toronto

Aaron Toronto is an independent filmmaker who has been active in the Vietnamese film industry for the past four years. He currently lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City.