Tran Thanh's "Mai" wins big at the 2024 Da Nang Asian Film Festival - Lang Son Electronic Newspaper

The film that "made waves" in theaters earlier this year, "Mai" by director Tran Thanh, won three important awards at the 2024 Da Nang Asian Film Festival, including Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Film in the Vietnamese Film Competition category. Another representative of Vietnamese cinema, "Culi Khong Bao Nhat Khoc" won the Best Asian Film award at the Film Festival.

Director Tran Thanh received the awards for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress in the Vietnamese Film Competition category. (Photo: ANH VU)

On the evening of July 6, in Da Nang city, the 2nd Da Nang Asian Film Festival concluded, with awards given in the categories of Asian Film Competition, Vietnamese Film Competition, Most Favorite Film by Audiences, and the NETPAC Award for Vietnamese Films.

The film festival was honored to receive congratulatory flower baskets from President To Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh .

Attending the closing ceremony were comrade Nguyen Van Quang, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the City Party Committee, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Da Nang City; comrades: Nguyen Dinh Vinh, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee; Le Trung Chinh, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the Da Nang City People's Committee; Tran Chi Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Da Nang City People's Committee; Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, Chairman of the Vietnam Cinema Promotion Association, Director of the 2024 Da Nang Asian Film Festival; along with leaders of central and local agencies, departments, branches and sectors in Da Nang City, Ambassadors, Consuls General of countries as well as producers, film crews, domestic and foreign artists and a large number of audiences, movie lovers,...

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Mr. Tran Chi Cuong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Nang City, said that the 2nd Da Nang Asian Film Festival in 2024 brought Da Nang City a vibrant and colorful film week with many activities... The film festival has left a deep impression on the public, professionals and managers. Not only gathering and honoring excellent film works, the 2nd Da Nang Asian Film Festival also hopes to create a space to nurture and incubate talent, one of the important beginnings to establish a film ecosystem. That is one of the solid foundations towards building a city of film events, contributing to building a cultural industry.

"We hope to receive practical constructive comments and enthusiastic support so that the Da Nang Asian Film Festival can become more complete, more professional, create its own identity, and constantly innovate and innovate," affirmed comrade Tran Chi Cuong.

Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan speaks at the closing ceremony.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, President of the Vietnam Cinema Promotion Association, Director of the 2024 Da Nang Asian Film Festival, said that the theme DANAF - Asia Bridge was initiated from DANAFF I, both creating a spread from the region to the world and truly going into the depth of the profession.

The professionalism in the organization of DANAFF II has made significant progress, especially in the diversity and quality of the films in competition, in the films selected for screening at the Film Festival, especially the French Cinema Highlights and the Selection of works by director, People's Artist Dang Nhat Minh. While DANAFF I had two professional seminars, DANAF II had up to 4 international seminars with the participation of leading Vietnamese and international filmmakers and film experts... The film screenings, workshops... all attracted the participation of a large number of audiences and experts.

Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan affirmed that the scale of the Film Festival has been expanded, but more importantly, all the events in the Film Festival have created a vibrant, harmonious, youthful and vibrant DANAFF ensemble.

"Please continue to put your trust in us so that the next DANAFFs will be larger and more professional, contributing to the development of Vietnam's film industry, and soon bringing Da Nang - a city strong in content and festivals - into the UNESCO network of creative cities.

In the award categories, the Most Favorite Vietnamese Film award went to the animated films "The Kitchen God's Carp", "The Unique Khoai Village", and "The Funny Lion Dance Team".

The film crew of "Flip Side 7: A Wish" received the NETPAC award for Vietnamese film and the award for Best Cast.

The NETPAC Award for Vietnamese Film went to the film "Flip Side 7: A Wish" by director Ly Hai.

In the category of Vietnamese films competing, the jury could not choose the best script, so there was no author winning the award for Best Vietnamese Film Screenplay.

The Best Actor award went to actor Thai Hoa (film "Con Nhót nhớt chồng"). He expressed his thanks to the jury, film crew, producer and audience after receiving the award.

The Best Actress award went to Phuong Anh Dao (film "Mai"). Director and Producer Tran Thanh received the award on behalf of Phuong Anh Dao because she was busy attending another event.

The closing night was a night of success for the "Mai" film crew when they received two consecutive awards for Best Director for Tran Thanh and Best Vietnamese Film.

Director Tran Thanh emotionally shared about the award.

Moved by the award for the individual director, Tran Thanh shared: "This is the first time I have attended the Film Festival. Last time, I was busy hosting the program so I was absent from the event. I am very happy that the film "Mai" was nominated. Today, the main actors in the film are all busy making films and game shows so they cannot attend. This is a great motivation for all filmmakers in their determination to bring a brighter and more developed face to the country's cinema. Because I think that with a world where everything is integrated today, we will become small, everything moves very fast, if we do not run, we cannot catch up. Thank you to the audience for choosing Mai, thank you to the Da Nang Asian Film Festival for bringing "Mai" a little joy to have more motivation to do better in the following films".

Talking about the Best Film award, Tran Thanh said that he is often afraid of being on the same list of entries as art films, because in competitions, the scoring criteria are often biased towards art films. "This is a difficult problem for all filmmakers to balance between art and audience to sell more tickets. And I really want to find that balance, which is to still make films and quality according to the art film genre, but still be close and easy to approach the general audience" - the director shared.

The film "Flip Side 7: A Wish" was awarded the Best Cast Award of the Vietnamese Film Competition.

The crew of "Cu Li Never Cries" received the Best Film award in the Asian Film Competition category.

In the Asian Film Competition category, the Best Film award went to "Cu Li Khong Bao Nhat Cuong" by director Pham Ngoc Lan.

Actor Le Phong Vu received the award on behalf of director Pham Thien An.

The Best Director award went to director Pham Thien An for the film "Inside the Golden Cocoon", which won the Best Cinematography award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Actor Le Phong Vu received the award on behalf of the director.

Screenwriter and director Liu Jiayin received the award for Best Screenplay.

The Best Screenplay Award went to screenwriter Liu Jiayin, for the Chinese film "A Life Worthwhile." Screenwriter Liu Jiayin is also the director of the film.

The producer accepted the award on behalf of actor Wu Kang Ren.

The Best Actor award was given to Wu Kang Ren, film "Eternal Wish" (Hong Kong cinema, China).

The film crew accepted the award on behalf of actress Yuumi Kawai.

The Best Actress award was given to Yuumi Kawai, "The Life of Ann" (Japanese cinema). "The Life of Ann" also won the Special Jury Prize.

2nd Danang Asian Film Festival (2nd Da Nang Asian Film Festival - DANAFF II) is directed by the People's Committee of Da Nang City, chaired by the Vietnam Film Promotion Association (VFDA), in coordination with the Department of Culture and Sports, Department of Tourism and other departments and branches of Da Nang City, UNIMedia Company and organizing units.

This is the second year Da Nang has organized the Film Festival with many attractive programs and activities, attracting the attention of a large audience of cinema lovers.

The crew of "Soul Eater" on the red carpet before the opening ceremony.

The film festival takes place from July 2 to 6, with participating films selected from many film industries, bringing audiences new and impressive experiences, discovering and enjoying quality films, rich in content and art.

DANAFF II selects and honors outstanding cinematographic works, rich in humanity, with new discoveries and unique artistic expression; encourages talent, widely introduces to the public new cinematographic works, with high value in content and art of Vietnamese cinema, the Asia-Pacific region and selected films of world cinema.

International film crew on the red carpet closing the Film Festival.

In addition, DANAFF 2024 also encourages talent, widely introducing to the public new cinematic works of high content and artistic value from Vietnamese cinema, the Asia-Pacific region and selected films of world cinema.

In particular, for the first time in Vietnam, DANAFF II will present the Cinema Achievement Award to legendary filmmakers, directors, and People's Artists. Dang Nhat Minh

This year's film festival has 63 movies The highlight of the festival is the competition of films in two categories: Asian films and Vietnamese films. Of which, 13 films are competing in the Asian film category and 10 films are competing in the Vietnamese film category.

Director, producer Mai Thu Huyen and actress Maya on the red carpet.

In addition, non-competitive film programs for the audience include "Today's Vietnamese Cinema" with 18 films, "Focus on French Cinema" with 8 films, selected film program by director Dang Nhat Minh with 7 films, film program about Da Nang with 4 films, and documentary program Varan with 3 films.

The Opening and Closing Ceremonies - Award Ceremony of the Film Festival will be broadcast live on Vietnam Television (VTV8 and VTV2), Da Nang Television, Security TV, National Assembly Television, provincial and municipal television stations nationwide and digital platforms.

The film festival also includes many attractive activities such as film screenings at Le Do, CGV, Galaxy, Starlight cinemas and outdoor screenings at Lien Chieu District Administrative Park (July 3), Crescent Circle on Nhu Nguyet Street (July 4), Crescent Circle on Bach Dang Walking Street (July 5) with a total of 103 screenings.

Tran Thanh and Hari Won shook hands with fans on the red carpet.

Within the framework of the Film Festival, there will also be meetings and conversations between the audience and the film crew, and exchanges between famous artists and the audience.

There are also specialized seminars and talks such as the seminar "French cinema and its relationship with Vietnamese cinema"; the seminar "Sharing experiences in connecting coastal film festivals"; the seminar "Director Dang Nhat Minh's creative style"; the seminar "Film production cooperation - international experience and development solutions", the workshop "Nurturing talent".

Source: https://baolangson.vn/mai-cua-tran-thanh-thang-lon-tai-lien-hoan-phim-chau-a-da-nang-2024-5014012.html