HCM CITY — Five of the best filmmakers have been honoured at a short film making contest 2024 award ceremony in HCM City. 

Five short films by Nguyễn Phạm Thành Đạt, Vũ Nguyễn Nam Khuê, Trương Tiến Hòa, Thái An and Lê Ngọc Duy were selected from the CJ Short Film Making Project 2024 contest. 

The films were shown at the ceremony in HCM City last week.

The contest, held by CJ Cultural Foundation and CGV Việt Nam in May, was a way of helping young Vietnamese filmmakers develop their careers.

Launched in 2018, the contest is one of the most attractive to young filmmakers, according to Đỗ Quốc Việt, deputy-head of the Cinematography Department at the award ceremony. 

"Many young filmmakers from the contest over the years have gained success and turned their dreams into reality," Việt said. 

Among over 400 entries, the five best projects were given VNĐ300 million (roughly US$12,000) in order to make the films.

Đạt and An are new graduates from Hà Nội Cinema and Theatre Academy. Đạt's film Tàn Sữa (Milk Ashes) set on a dairy farm, is about a young worker who has erotic thoughts about a young and mysterious female customer. 

"I recognised that I really want to make a good film," said Đạt. "At the beginning, I thought that I would just spend 100 million of đồng for making the film and pocket the rest! But we have to use our money to make the films," Đạt said. "However, the money is not a key, I think that the contest is a good chance for the filmmakers to exchange ideas about their films and make them popular to both Vietnamese and international audiences."

Over five seasons, the CJ Short Film Making Project helped the young filmmakers to turn their idea into a reality, with all of the entries featuring very different genres and topics, covering love, life and humanity.

The best films from the project have been selected to screen and compete at over 50 international film festivals around the world.

Filmmaker Đàm Quang Trung's Những Con Voi Bên Vệ Đường (Elephant by the Roadside) won the best director and best camera at the Singapore International Film Festival's Southeast Asian Short Film Competition category on December 8. Trung was among top five at the contest's third season. 

From the first season of the contest, three filmmakers Phạm Ngọc Lân, Phạm Thiên Ân and Dương Diệu Linh were honoured at international film festivals. 

Lân won the best first feature prize at the Berlinale Film Festival, Ân took the Camera D'or award at Cannes Film Festival and Linh won the Grand Prize at Settimana Internazionale della Critica (Venice Critics’ Week).

The most recent winner, Đoàn Sĩ Nguyên from season four is currently making his first feature-length film Điều Ước Cuối Cùng (The Last Wish). — VNS