DONG NAI — Two seminars focusing on making documentaries for television will open the first Southern Region TV Documentary Film Festival in Dong Nai Province today.

The festival is being held in Bien Hoa City's Buu Long Tourist Park.

The event has attracted filmmakers and producers from 41 TV and radio stations as well as film companies in the region.

The three-day festival is organised by the Dong Nai Radio and Television and its partners. It is themed: "Viet Nam and its people in the process of renewal and integration to the world."

Filmmakers have sent their latest works in the hope that the festival will garner publicity for them.

Entries from Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV), including the 61-episode Me Kong Ky Su (Chronicle of Mekong) filmed by a staff of skilled directors and cameramen, are a highlight of the festival.

The series focuses on the history, culture and daily life of people living along the Mekong River.

Our staff often spends months to capture the challenges faced by people in their daily life, said Nguyen Quy Hoa, general director of HTV.

Because of such efforts, audiences have the opportunity to discover different places and connect with different people, he added.

The documentaries produced by HTV often focus on education, health and road traffic, issues that are important in the lives of residents everywhere.

"Making a quality TV documentary is very difficult," said Nguyen Thi Thanh Tieng of the Can Tho Radio and Television.

She said her station had only one production per month because "most provincial TV stations face a shortage of skilled directors, cameramen and film editors."

In recent years, provincial stations have worked with bigger counterparts like Viet Nam Television and HTV to improve their business, she said. — VNS