HA NOI — Vietnamese filmmakers have expressed their determination to build up national cinematography to make it modern, humane and integrative at the seventh congress of the Viet Nam Cinema Association (VNCA). The two-day congress started yesterday in Ha Noi and joined together 500 delegates representing 1,500 members across the country.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan attended the congress and presented the association with a curtain embroidered with: "Solidarity, Democracy, Progress and Creativity".
VNCA had made positive contributions to the development of national cinema, Nhan said.
"Vietnamese cinematography met with many difficulties during doi moi (renewal), but filmmakers have tried to overcome these problems and contribute to preserving national identity, traditions, culture and cinema," he said.
Nhan recommended that in the next term, VNCA's executive board should focus on training human resources. The association should co-operate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Education and Training to send its members to study abroad, or invite foreign specialists to teach at home.
"Filmmakers should actively join international cinema events to learn more," Nhan suggested.
Popularising Vietnamese movies to the public was one of the biggest obstacles. He encouraged the filmmakers to bring films to remote areas within the nation and abroad.
Although production of television films grew steadily—10 times higher than in 2006—the number of Vietnamese films produced each year was too small to meet the demands of audiences, especially during this integration period, VNCA chairman Tran Luan Kim, reported.
"The nation's film industry is suffering under the pressure of competition with the many foreign films being imported into the country," Kim said.
The demand for good films is huge, especially with the younger generation, whose tastes are difficult to grasp. They tend toward new and strange trends and often sympathise more with foreign films than Vietnamese ones, Kim explained.
South Korean filmmakers were sent to study abroad changed their national cinema. Kim said that he wanted to send at least 300 filmmakers abroad to learn more about international cinema.
Recently, overseas Vietnamese filmmakers, who were trained abroad, have blown new air into national cinema.
To bring audiences good films, he suggested investing more money into the process.
Today the association's members will vote on a new executive board for the 2010-15 term. Kim hopes that the new leaders will help the association's activities, making it a common household name. — VNS