Serious screen time: Swedish documentary Palme directed by Maud Nycander and Kristina Lindstrom will be screened during the European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival. — Photo edelstamprize.org

HA NOI — The 5th European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival will kick off tonight with a screening of Vietnamese director Hoang Dung's documentary entitled Nguoi Tha Chieu Vao Tranh (Artist Draws Afternoon in Painting).

The 35-minute film tells the story of artist Phan Ke An who has made a significant contribution to Vietnamese fine arts development.

The screening begins at 7pm at the Viet Nam National Documentary Film Studio, 465 Hoang Hoa Tham Street.

The Vietnamese documentary will be folowed by A Summer with Anton by Belgian director Jasna Krajinovic.

Krajinovic's film is about twelve-year-old Anton who enjoys a summer vacation at the home he shares with his grandmother outside of Moscow.

Director Kraijinovic will hold a discussion with the audience after the screening. She is also taking part in a five-day training course for Vietnamese young documentary filmmakers at the studio from June 3-7.

Following the success of previous festivals, this year the European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival will be attended by filmmakers from Belgium, Germany, Sweden, France, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK in association with the Viet Nam National Documentary Film Studio.

The festival takes place at Ha Noi's National Documentary and Scientific Film Studio from June 5-14 and at HCM City's Hoa Sen University from June 10-29.

For each screening, audiences will be treated to one European and one Vietnamese documentary with a broad selection of topics focusing on the principle of dialogue between Vietnamese and European films, according to the organisation board.

On the sidelines of the event, the ChopShots Travelling Festival will take shape for the first time. Documentaries from other Southeast Asian countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, the Philippines and Viet Nam will be represented in Ha Noi on June 9 and in HCM City on June 20.

A round-table discussion will be held on June 13 by DocNet Southeast Asia at the Ha Noi Goethe Institute. Vietnamese documentary professionals will assemble to discuss future goals and challenges for documentary filmmaking in Viet Nam.

Directors Heidi Specogna from Germany, Patrick Chauvel and Anna Pitoun from France will attend and share their experiences with Vietnamese fellow filmmakers. The roundtable will be moderated by renowned artisan Phan Dang Di.

Meanwhile, the 2nd Docnet Southeast Asia Summer School will be held from June 8-17 with the participation of 20 documentary filmmakers from Viet Nam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Myanmar.

Participants will get the chance to work alongside, exchange knowledge and gain inspired from two experts - French film editor Aurelie Ricard and German filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich.

"Documentary film as an artistic medium captures daily life in the most genuine and lively way and thus records history. Documentary films from each country carry their own cultural and creative characteristics," said Pham Thi Tuyet, director of the Viet Nam National Documentary and Scientific Film Studio.

"We hope the festival will give Vietnamese filmmakers many more co-operation and training opportunities to help improve their filmmaking techniques," Tuyet added. — VNS