Straight out of school: A scene from Bao Mau Sieu Quay (Babysitters), a film for children directed by Le Bao Trung, is expected to be a blockbuster this summer. — Photo courtesy of LBT

HCM CITY (VNS) — The private film company LBT has introduced its latest film on children in hopes of drawing young audiences away from Korean and American productions that have come to dominate cinemas this summer.

The new production Bao Mau Sieu Quay (Babysitters) is a comedy about a group of pre-school children, focusing on the relationships between parents, teachers and children.

The film features Bo, a four-year-old boy in a group of four kids who must protect his friends from a pair of kidnappers.

"We don't bring serious educational messages," said the film's director Le Bao Trung. "I hope our film can entertain audiences, both children and their parents. After watching, I believe adults will gain useful lessons on finding a way to love and understand their kids."

In the film, Trung used pre-school children from HCM City who had no previous training in acting.

"It's the best way to make my film's characters popular with young audiences," he explained, adding that his staff tried to have a good understanding of the lifestyle of children by observing the young actors.

Bao Mau Sieu Quay's premiere recently attracted more than 1,500 children, who laughed and screamed during the film.

"We believe the success in ticket sales of Trung's film occurred because until now there has been no Vietnamese children's film this summer," said Dinh Lang, movie critic for Dien Anh Viet Nam (Viet Nam Cinematography) magazine.

He said that despite strong demand from young audiences, the number of quality films for children was still low.

"The main difficulty is that film producers often receive poor screenplays which aren't suitable for youngsters. They don't want to make film or TV series, worth billions of dong, with these lightweight screenplays," he said.

"Producers and directors need good screenplays and skilled young actors who can breathe life into children's roles," he said.

"Directors and screenwriters often do not fully understand what youngsters want and think," he added.

"My friends and I do not like Vietnamese children's movies because they are boring. In our view, the characters are just silly boys and girls. We don't think and act like them," said Nguyen Kim Chi, a seven-year-old girl from HCM City.

Trung said that film producers should work jointly with publishing houses and talented authors to create quality books and screenplays for children.

"Movies and theatres for children are a promising market," he said. — VNS