VietNamNet Bridge – More than VND100 billion ($5 million) has been invested in the Co Loa Studio in the suburbs of Hanoi. This will be the largest and most modern studio in Vietnam.

Many private film firms have built studios in southern Vietnam. In the north, film makers always complain about the shortage of studios.

The need for a modern studio peaked when the Feature Film Firm 1 was assigned to make a historical movie about Great Tutor Tran Thu Do in 2008. Without a professional studio in Hanoi, film makers had to shoot the movie in many provinces in Vietnam and at China’s Hengdian Studio, the world’s largest studio.

To serve this project, one of the largest film projects in Vietnam so far, some works were built at the Co Loa film studio in Hanoi, using short-lived materials. After “Great Tutor Tran Thu Do”, the studio was used to shoot some scenes of another historical movie entitled “Huyen Su Thien Do”. However, some works in the studio were damaged quickly.

Co Loa is not a new studio. It was built several decades ago under the assistance of experts from Russia, Germany and then China. However, it was neglected for a long time until relevant agencies decided to invest VND108 billion to recover it in 2008.

At present, Co Loa is a modern studio with a 400sq.m indoor studio equipped with machines worth $1.5 million. The indoor studio was built under the assistance of German experts. Supporting works for this indoor studio are make-up rooms, costume rooms, greenrooms for actors, etc. totaling over 300sq.m.

Located on 12.2 hectares, the Co Loa Studio will also have an underwater and an outdoor studio, a recording room and a cinema.

At this moment, VND80 billion has been invested in this project. The second phase (2012-2015) will be implemented with the assistance of Korean experts.

This year many film projects will be shot at Co Loa Studio.

Project managers hope that the studio will become a tourist site in the future like famous studios in China and South Korea because the studio is only 10km from Hanoi.

Hanh Phuong – Nguyen Hoang