Raising the "kite" of cinema to fly high

The 2023 Kite Awards ceremony just took place in Nha Trang ( Khanh Hoa ), gathering nearly 1,000 filmmakers, experts and artists. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the annual award of the Vietnam Cinema Association to honor outstanding authors, artists and works. The highlight of this year's Kite Awards is the results that exceeded expectations, not being swept away by the majority but convincing.

A scene from the film “Glorious Ashes” directed by Bui Thac Chuyen. (Photo provided by the film crew)

After 20 years of organization (since 2003), the Kite Award has been increasingly innovated, aiming for a larger scale and stature. This year, for the first time, the Organizing Committee announced the Wall of Fame to honor prestigious and talented film characters and works of the country with 433 stars representing 107 typical works; 297 outstanding individuals who are authors, artists, actors, filmmakers and 29 veteran filmmakers.

The feature film "Glorious Ashes" won the Golden Kite Award for feature film, a convincing victory. The work was adapted by director and screenwriter Bui Thac Chuyen from two short stories "Glorious Ashes" and "Rotten Firewood Floating Back" by writer Nguyen Ngoc Tu. After seven years of incubation, the film was released in early December 2022, drawing viewers into the picture of the fate of "ruined people" (Nguyen Ngoc Tu's words) in a small, poor western village. There, there are women who live resignedly for love and finally a prominent message: happiness must be grasped by the person themselves.

Shedding her youthful, sharp features, Phuong Anh Dao - a potential actress - played the role of a country woman with a simple appearance. She was highly appreciated for her many subtle inner scenes, making viewers feel the psychological developments and deep pain of the character even in daily life or when incidents occur. The river scene with crisscrossing canals, thatched roofs, traditional lifestyles full of identity... appeared vividly on the big screen.

At the 2023 Kite Awards, director Bui Thac Chuyen was also honored as Best Director. This is a worthy achievement for his dedication and talent for an artistic film with breakthroughs in perspective, creativity, and efforts to attract investment over many years.

Vietnam Television is the unit that won the most awards with a total of 16 awards. The film "Mother Straw" directed by Nguyen Phuong Dien and produced by the Television Film Center (Vietnam Television) won the Golden Kite Award for the Television Feature Film category.

Actor Thai Hoa made a strong impression when he received two awards: Best Actor in the TV series "Mother Straw" and Best Actor in the movie "Con nhot mot chong". Meanwhile, his co-star Thu Trang from the movie "Mother Straw" won the award for Best Actress.

During the three months of broadcasting, "Mother Straw" has created an impression and affection with the audience through its simple content with a close, rustic way of telling. In the film, each person in the poor village, whether good or bad, has their own worries and fate. After a long journey with all the moods and changes in life, they - from the most disadvantaged and weak people, ordinary people or those with position, money and ambition - all realize that: Human love is something that cannot be bought with money.

Besides the story of family love being pushed to a climax with "knots and openings", viewers also enjoy a new space with invested images when most of the film's scenes were filmed in Phan Rang ( Ninh Thuan ).

Through the 2023 Kite Awards, we can see the diversity of topics and ways of expression of filmmakers. In the feature film sector, private filmmakers have made more efforts and breakthroughs in exploiting familiar topics that are imbued with the breath of life. Among them, there are films that have achieved high box office revenue and films that are highly appreciated for their artistic and creative values, and have won international awards. This shows the increasingly high professional requirements of the award.

For example, "Glorious Ashes" won the highest award at the Tricontinental Film Festival held in France. Approaching the world's creative and artistic cinema trends is a requirement for domestic filmmakers in the current context, to gradually contribute to raising the "kite" of cinema to fly high and far.

Chairman of the Vietnam Cinema Association Do Lenh Hung Tu shared: Not only the film industry is trying, but also the attention of the State and authorities at all levels in issuing incentive policies, reducing taxes, inviting more foreign investors to Vietnam... Another noteworthy point is that industries such as fine arts, music and some other cultural and artistic industries are working together with cinema to create spread and connection, thus forming a cultural industry.

One of the goals of the Cinema Development Strategy to 2030 is to develop in the direction of a specific art industry that can generate economic profits, gradually striving to build the Vietnamese cinema industry into a spearhead cultural industry, promoting economic growth.

However, domestic cinema still faces many difficulties when up to 80% of cinema complexes nationwide are foreign-owned, not to mention limited investment in Vietnamese films. There needs to be both synchronous and specific solutions to encourage creativity and attract investment in cinema.

Seven works won the 2023 Golden Kite Award, including: "Glorious Ashes" (feature film, directed by Bui Thac Chuyen); "Mother Straw" (TV series, directed by Nguyen Phuong Dien); "Origin" (animated film, directed by Phung Van Ha); "Black Hole" (scientific film, directed by Trinh Quang Bach); "Trap" (documentary, directed by Nguyen Ho Tri); "Under the Pit" (short film, directed by Dinh Pham Phuoc Binh), "The Art of Writing TV Series Scripts" (theoretical research work by Associate Professor, Dr. Do Lenh Hung Tu).

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