Vietnamese audiences always want films that are worthy of the nation's heroic history of building and defending the country, but it seems that society is making unreasonable demands on filmmakers.
On November 9, within the framework of the Hanoi International Film Festival (HANIFF), a workshop took place. “Developing film production exploiting historical themes and adapting them from literary works.”
Among these, making films about real historical events has received the most attention. To analyze the causes and propose solutions, managers, filmmakers/film producers and representatives of the Vietnam Writers Association contributed their opinions in the workshop.
“We fear imagination”
Present at the workshop, Chairman of the Writers' Association - Mr. Nguyen Quang Thieu pointed out that Vietnamese filmmakers have a "vague fear" or "fear of imagination" when having to put creative, fictional details into films with historical themes (regardless of genre: historical, mythical or official history).
This fear comes from negative public reactions, which are caused by the scandals surrounding the film. "Southern Forest Land" The recent film is a typical example. In the face of controversy over the film, the Cinema Department affirmed that the film did not violate any prohibitions in the Cinema Law, and that the film crew and the review board were not at fault.
Director of the Cinema Department, Mr. Vi Kien Thanh, also affirmed: The film does not promote any group, but only praises the patriotism against foreign invaders of the people of the South at that time - including Vietnamese, Chinese and Khmer people.
However, on social networks, there is still a part of public opinion that constantly attacks the work and the film crew without basis, to the point that in the third report of the Department of Cinema before the National Assembly's Culture andEducation Committee, Mr. Thanh even proposed to remove himself from his position if necessary to handle the media crisis.
According to journalist and screenwriter Binh Bong Bot (Tran Minh) in the article "The Saint and the Saint's Cause" (posted on February 12, 2024), filmmakers often "self-censor" themselves in the face of objective factors such as huge budgets, political sensitivities, and a censorship system that is still too qualitative and too little quantitative.
The courage of a creative person
The heated public opinion also shows the great interest and demand of Vietnamese audiences for this film genre. From here, the role of the filmmaker is very necessary, along with the courage of the creator in particular and the creator in general.
In an interview that poet Nguyen Quang Thieu conducted 30 years ago, he asked high school students the question "Do you like Quan Vu or Quang Trung?" and most of them answered that they liked Quan Vu, not Quang Trung.
"Is Quang Trung inferior to Quan Vu? No. But Chinese writers and filmmakers are certainly better than Vietnamese ones," Mr. Thieu commented when talking about the influence of art on promoting a country's culture and history.
From a filmmaker's perspective, director Charlie Nguyen believes that audiences need to understand two types of "truth." One is the actual truth about the historical figure being talked about, the place, time and events... these are stories that have been recorded in official history and cannot be denied. The other is "spiritual truth," which is the psychological journey, the internal struggles that take place within the character.
"These are things that are not in history and it is the filmmaker's responsibility to insert meanings and messages, connect with the audience's emotions and prove that they are also human," director Charlie Nguyen analyzed.
Acknowledging that support from the state is very important, Chairman of the Writers' Association Nguyen Quang Thieu said that the determination of the creator is the most important: "Don't be like a cat that wants to turn into a tiger. But when it turns into a tiger, it still has to fear other tigers."
Associate Professor, Doctor Bui Hoai Son - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education affirmed that respecting history is the responsibility of every artist. Therefore, in order to maintain a firm stance, the filmmaker himself must equip himself with a solid and correct amount of knowledge about the historical figures/events being mentioned.
What to do with bad public opinion?Nowadays, social networks are like a loudspeaker that helps to "amplify" negative public opinion, including extreme and baseless comments, many users are not responsible for their opinions. Therefore, there are many conflicting opinions, even violating social ethics and ethical principles in using social networks. Regarding this issue, Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Hoai Son - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education proposed that management agencies as well as social network users themselves properly implement the contents that have been issued in the past, such as the code of ethics for social network users issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications; raise awareness; use pressure from public opinion to fight against negative opinions; unconstructive, provide information with basis and foundation, to refute fake news and apply sanctions through legal systems, regulations, refute false information.../. |
Source: https://baolangson.vn/noi-so-hai-mo-ho-khi-lam-phim-ve-de-tai-lich-su-o-viet-nam-5027918.html
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