Vietnamese film dream seen from Netflix's $2.5 billion investment in Korean cinema

The overwhelming victory in viewership ratings in a series of projects such as Squid Game, All of us are dead, Hellbound, The Glory... has helped Korean cinema attract many large investment sources from around the world , including Netflix with 2.5 billion USD.

The growth of the Korean film industry

Korean cinema, with its meteoric rise, has saved the Korean economy . Since the 1990s, when the Korean government gave away Korean films (without royalties) to television stations in Asian countries, no one could believe that in such a short time, Korean films with their widespread coverage would help Korea, a poor country, quickly become one of the top 10 most developed economies in Asia. SCMP analyzed, "Korean films in the 1990s with their gorgeous young casts, sad plots, dreamlike scenes... created a terrible power, forcing the whole of Asia to watch." From films, came an irresistible influence on tourism, fashion, phones, cars... sold worldwide. Therefore, when Netflix announced an investment of 2.5 billion USD in the next 4 years to promote Korean-language movies, TV shows, and game shows on this platform, the world media assessed that the Hallyu wave would develop stronger than ever. Currently, the Korean government continues to promote cultural exports and invest in the entertainment industry. In 2021, exports of Korean programs including music, video games, and movies reached a record high of 12.4 billion USD, far surpassing exports of home appliances.

How far does Vietnamese cinema have to go?

Discussing the industrialization of culture, including Vietnamese cinema, Mr. Do Duy Anh - former Deputy Director of the Department of Cinema - said that it is necessary to change from people. "I think that in order to fundamentally change cinema, there must be a team of talented filmmakers. Sending people to study abroad has been discussed many times but has not been implemented. It will be difficult for us to go a long way if we do not start from people, from personnel" - Mr. Duy Anh said. Talking to Lao Dong reporter, Ms. Ngo Phuong Lan - former Director of the Department of Cinema - affirmed that Vietnamese films are lacking talent and equally important, it is time for Vietnamese filmmakers to change their methods and thinking about making cinema. “In the past, filmmakers released films in theaters with the mentality of selling whatever they had. That is, they didn't care about the audience's taste, they only focused on the topics and scripts they were passionate about, without caring whether the audience liked them or not. It's time for the mindset of filmmaking to change, Vietnamese filmmakers must sell what the audience needs. When world cinema is developing rapidly, films on online platforms are exploding, any audience can access the most advanced cinema, the best films... Vietnamese films must shorten the distance with the audience, don't let yourself fall behind the audience's taste" - Ms. Ngo Phuong Lan once expressed her opinion. From the perspective of professionals, director Bui Tuan Dung believes that in order for Vietnamese cinema to develop systematically in the future, there needs to be a specific strategy and investment, not only in finance and personnel, but also support from authorities in terms of policies to bring films to international film festivals, a film approval mechanism, calling for joint investment from businesses, socializing film production, removing prejudices about topics and hot scenes... According to director Bui Tuan Dung, for Vietnamese cinema to "take off" and to successfully industrialize is a long process and requires a large role from the State.

In 2016, Netflix saw great potential in Korean cinema when the Hallyu wave had a strong influence across Asia. At that time, Netflix invested more than 1 billion USD in the Korean film production market. By April 2023, the investment had doubled. Netflix believes that Korean films will bring them great profits when looking at the ability to "sweep" around the world of a series of projects such as Squid Game or The Glory.

Laodong.vn