Film
studios are working on a raft of new projects, including comedy, action, and
horror films, that are slated for release this year.

Thrilling times: A poster for Lenh Xoa So (Death Sentence) which will open nationwide in April.

Things are all set for
Thien Ngan (Galaxy), Viet Nam Studio (BHD), and Early Riser Media Group to begin
shooting an action-comedy movie about a switch between a rural man and the
leader of a crime gang at the end of this month.

Long Ruoi (Fly Long),
the eponymous title named for the gang boss, will be directed by
Vietnamese-American Charlie Nguyen.

A poor cook from the
countryside, Teo, looks so much like the Sai Gon gang boss that the latter’s men
force him to act as their leader who is in hospital after a fight with rivals.

Teo has to constantly
ward off conspiracies to assassinate him.

Nguyen said he and his
crew are working to create a “new style” for the film since many films have been
made earlier in this genre.

The film features Thai
Hoa, who plays Teo and Long Ruoi. Hoa came to prominence last year after playing
a gay man in another Galaxy Studio film De Mai Tinh (It’s Up to Mai).

Long Ruoi is expected
to be released on National Day, September 2, a Galaxy spokesperson said.

Hoang Tran Film is
making an action flick about gangsters, Lenh Xoa So (Death Sentence). It will
have plenty of thrilling fight sequences featuring traditional Vietnamese
martial arts, its director Do Quang Minh said.

It features overseas
Vietnamese martial arts star Tran Minh Hoang, who won many European taekwondo
and Thai boxing championships, who is also the producer and martial arts
director.

A former member of a
criminal gang, Hoang, turns a new leaf and quits his old ways but has to contend
with the “death sentence” passed by the gang’s leader.

Filming finished at
the end of January and BHD will release it in April.

Galaxy Studio is
making a supernatural thriller Rh108 which is being directed by Bui Thac Chuyen,
who is also one of its scriptwriters along with Bui Kim Quy, winner of the top
prize at the 2004 National Short Film Festival.

The film is about
Chieu Duong, a 16-year-old girl who has the mental make-up of a six-year-old
following a traumatic incident during her childhood.

However, the incident
has given her strange powers – she has the ability to read people’s minds and
foretell terrible disasters.

Nguyen Thuy Duong,
daughter of veteran actress Mai Phuong – famous for her role in the 1983 film
Son Ca Trong Thanh Pho (Nightingale in the City) – will play the role of her
namesake.

“Duong’s face and body
language match the character’s, while she also passed the screen test,” the
director said.

Duong said though it
was difficult to fit in the filming with her school schedule, Chieu Duong’s role
was worth the challenge.

She earlier acted in
two TV series, May Rau Lam Vo (A Man-Wife) and Con Duong Phia Truoc (The Road
Ahead).

Galaxy expects to
release the film for Halloween in October.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News