Vietnamese film studios are making more TV series about the modern realities for country people.

“TV serials focusing on the rural life will account for about a third of our productions this year,” Nguyen Viet Hung, director of HCM City’s Television Film Studio (TFS) said.

The serials show the ambitions and friendships of rural youths.

Produced this year by Viet Nam Film Studio (VFS), the 30-episode serials Vang Trong Cat (Gold in the Sand) is about a young woman who is trying to preserve the traditional way her family has made fish sauce for generations.

Gold in the Sand is being screened on HTV 9 from Thursday to Saturday at 6pm.

Theo Dau Huong Xua (Searching for an Old Floral Perfume) shown on HTV 9 at 8.45pm from Wednesday to Sunday is about Que (Tri Quang), who graduates from a college in France and refuses to take over his family’s business. Much to his father’s frustrations, Que loves nature so he and his friends decide to start a flower farm in Da Lat.

Last Monday, HTV 9 showed the first episode in a 30-episode series Hoa Vang Noi Ay (Yellow Flowers).

Directed by Dinh Duc Liem, it presents the life of farmers living along the bank of the Tien River, a tributary of the Mekong. Most farmers in the village grow the marigolds that southern people use to decorate their homes during Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays.

“The film crew worked tirelessly until the last days of the Lunar Year to capture the beautiful marigold farms in Tien Giang Province, ” Liem said.

Vung Dat Khong Yen Tinh (An Untranquil Place) is a 30-episode serial about a land scam organised by several corrupt officials in a village. To protect their farming land, the villagers must unite and expose the wrong doings of their local leaders.

The first episode of An Untranquil Place will screen on Friday on HTV 7 at 11am. It will run Monday to Friday.

“Film studios have made many TV serials about romance, family and city life,” Minh Ha, head of HTV’s Film Selection Department said. “But they have shifted to rural areas and the life of country people for many new productions this year,” Ha said.

“We’ve read several exciting new scripts about rural people and their life. Some have been selected for production,” she said.

TFS next week will start shooting Chuyen Tinh Lang Hoa (Love Story in a Flower Village) about the life of farmers in HCM City’s Go Vap District – wellknown for having many beautiful flower gardens a decade ago.

The hard life of Vietnamese farmers between 1935-45 when the country was at war is the subject of the 19-episode serial Dong Que (Countryside) to be made by TFS in June.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News