A still from the sexually-explomatory Choi voi (Adrift)

Critics say that the choices for best film at Vietnam’s premier festival mean that the industry is either making a clean break with its past, or possibly reverting back to old themes.

Though 15 feature films have been chosen to contend for the coveted Bong Sen Vang (Golden Lotus) award, it’s clear that only two have a chance of winning: Dung dot (Don’t Burn) or Choi voi (Adrift)

Despite its low box office turnout, Dung dot by Dang Nhat Minh was a resounding critical success this year.

The film is based on the war diary of martyred resistance army medic Dang Thuy Tram, which has been published in 14 different countries and territories. Tram’s journal, was found and kept by a US soldier 30 years ago. The film gets its name from the command that a soldier issued when the journal was about to be destroyed.

While Dung Dot dwells on classic war era themes we’ve seen in many Vietnamese films – a heroine’s courage and resilience under the pressure of war – it also illustrates moving tales of humble humanity, both Tram’s and others.

With much of the script taken from Tram’s vivid and touching diary, the characters are more real than common war stereotypes and stock characters. At the same time, the film makes a great effort to tell part of the story from the side of the Americans, a turning of the tables that many critics have noted is all but absent from Hollywood’s simplistic renderings of the war.

Thac Chuyen’s Choi voi‘s protagonist is also a woman, but this time the setting is contemporary Vietnam. The film grapples with all the tough issues young Vietnamese are being forced to struggle with. It tells the tale of a young woman with an adventurous spirit trying to do the best she can in her modern urban life, while at the same time being confronted by inner demons and having to face her own volatile emotions and new sexual desires.

Though both films have received awards at international festivals, Choi voi gained considerable recognition with a critics’ award at the 66th Venice Film Festival in Italy two months ago.

However, local critics still say Dung dot is the favorite, as film festivals here have tended to prefer the concrete rather than the abstract. The film has a recent leg up after leaving a deep impression on US audiences at 14 university tour last month. It also won the Audience Award at the Fukuoka International Film Festival this year.

But a win for Choi voi could mean Vietnamese film critics may be taking a turn away from tradition and into the avant-garde of the art-house.

The Vietnam Film Festival, a national competition, is held every two or three years. This year’s event features work from China, South Korea, the US, Finland, Russia, Laos and Cambodia.

Reported by Pham Thu Nga