Red eyes looking for Vietnamese children's movies

For world cinema, summer is an important season of the year for film studios to launch attractive "blockbusters", branded animated works to serve the "child" audience, a large force on vacation, with many entertainment needs.

Too lacking and weak

However, paradoxically, Vietnamese cinema often ignores the "young" audience. Vietnamese children going to the cinema in the summer can only enjoy foreign works from animation to other genres. Familiar animation brands dominating Vietnamese cinemas this summer include: "Doraemon: Nobita and the Ideal Land in the Sky", "Spider-Man: Spider-Verse". Some animated films scheduled to be released in the near future: "Land of the Elements", "Ruby: Teenage Monster", "Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine"...

According to statistics from Box Office Vietnam, an independent box office revenue statistics site, "Doraemon: Nobita and the Ideal Land in the Sky" has earned more than 71 billion VND as of the morning of June 15. "Spider-Man: Spider-Verse" has earned more than 31 billion VND. Both films are currently holding the second and third positions on the daily revenue chart of Vietnamese theaters.

The movie “Cricket Hero” is waiting to be broadcast on the small screen. (Photo provided by the producer)

While the big screen is full of foreign films, lacking domestic films, the small screen also has few new Vietnamese feature films for the "young" audience to enjoy. For many years, children have watched "Vietnamese Fairy Tales" and then "Fairy Tale World" on Vinh Long Television (THVL). This year, Phuong Nam Film Studio has a work called "Cricket Hero" that has been completed and is waiting for THVL to broadcast.

"We still don't know when "Cricket Hero" will be released to the audience because it has to follow the schedule of the TV station, we don't know if it will be in time for the summer of 2023" - the media representative of Phuong Nam Film Studio informed. Phuong Nam Film Studio and THVL have collaborated to produce many fairy tale works before such as: "Cau be nuoc Nam", "Hai chang hao hon", "Gai khon duoc chong"...

"Every summer, old films like "Dat Phuong Nam", "Kinh Kaleidoscope", "Tay Du Ky"... are re-screened on many stations. Repetition, no matter how good the work is, has become too familiar. My children who want to watch new films can only go to the cinema to watch foreign films. Vietnamese films for children in our country are too lacking and weak" - audience member Nguyen Thi Nguyen (District 8, Ho Chi Minh City) said.

Nurturing the Vietnamese soul

Many people in the industry believe that the reason for the lack of children's films in the home market is due to budget and revenue. In cinema, children's films have a high investment budget compared to adult films, the filming and editing process is many times more difficult but the revenue is not high.

Private film studios are usually concerned with profits, so it is difficult for them to continuously make films for children. Therefore, films for children need great support from state investment and audience acceptance.

Works for children in recent years include "Trang Ti: Phieu Luu Ky" directed by Phan Gia Nhat Linh, produced by Ngo Thanh Van's company; "Maika - The Little Girl from Another Planet" directed by Ham Tran, the Cinema Department in collaboration with Binh Hanh Dan Company Limited (BHD) and production partners under the order of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; "Dan choi khong so con roi" directed by Huynh Dong, produced by Thu Trang.

"Dan choi khong so con roi" earned nearly 46 billion VND; "Trang Ti: Phieu luu ky" due to objective reasons such as copyright controversy and the COVID-19 pandemic only earned more than 22 billion VND, a loss compared to the investment cost of 43 billion VND; "Maika - The girl from another planet" earned more than 6 billion VND, a heavy loss compared to the investment cost of 30 billion VND.

"For children's films, the government should spend budget to coordinate with private film studios to produce works. This genre of film requires good scripts and dedicated filmmakers" - journalist Cat Vu expressed his opinion.

Many people in the industry believe that there needs to be a synchronous solution from the management agency soon to have a direction for developing films for children on both the big and small screens. We cannot rely solely on foreign films to satisfy the entertainment needs of Vietnamese children, because children need to be nurtured spiritually with films that carry traditional Vietnamese cultural values.

The movie "Dat Rung Phuong Nam" directed by Nguyen Quang Dung, is a rare work on the Vietnamese big screen about children, but it has been announced that it will not be released in time for this summer, and is expected to be released in theaters on October 20, 2023.

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