The movie 30 minutes is a big hit at Vietnamese theaters, Gen Z director surprised by "large customer base"

"Wooden Fish" is considered to have a youthful indie quality, rich in the thoughts of young people standing at a crossroads in life, trying to balance life and personal passions.

"Wooden Fish" was released in theaters thanks to the MV "Miracle" which went viral on social media. (Photo: Provided by the film crew)

The film that won the Golden Kite Award for short film in 2014 - "Wooden Fish" - is considered a phenomenon of Vietnamese cinema in the summer of 2025. According to Box Office Vietnam, with a duration of 30 minutes, the film earned 4.458 billion VND in ticket sales, equivalent to more than 110,000 tickets after one week of screening.

The film has created a lot of controversy among the audience, but most agree that the film is like a breath of fresh air among the series of horror and family films that have been flooding theaters recently.

Experts say director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat is a new voice in cinema that needs to be encouraged to rejuvenate and diversify Vietnamese cinema, regardless of whether it follows an independent or commercial direction.

From graduation film to theatrical release

- Hello Dat. What was your idea for making this movie?

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat (in brown shirt) and actor Lanh Thanh behind the scenes of "Wooden Fish." (Photo: DPCC)

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat: Nguyen Hung and I have been friends for a long time. Hung often sends me the music he writes. I think it's good, so I want to make a movie where he acts, writes music, and sings. The song "Miracle" was ordered by me to be written for the movie: a rock ballad with an impressive guitar line at the end, with a scene of playing the guitar under the sea.

I like to film in slightly less accessible settings. I have filmed my previous short films in the mountains and villages, this time I want to film at sea - on a fishing boat in the middle of the East Sea.

“Wooden Fish” is my graduation film and also a way for me to express my gratitude for my artistic journey. On that journey, I had a girlfriend who was very supportive of my decision to pursue filmmaking, and who is now my wife. The film was filmed in my wife’s hometown, Quynh Luu, Nghe An , and was also made as a gift for her.

Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat was born in 1998, from Moc Chau, is a former student of Directing, Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema (2020-2024 course). "Wooden Fish" is about a coastal boy who loves music . For food and money, he sticks to the sea to support his wife and children. But the fish are getting scarcer, fishing is difficult. Encouraged by his wife to sell the boat to pursue his passion, the young man is torn before a big decision. Like the main character, Dat's choice with cinema carries many thoughts of young people with the desire to pursue their passion.

- It can be seen that this is a very personal film for Dat. When you finish, do you plan to release the work in theaters?

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat: Yes, it's a very personal film. When I make a film, I always want to show it on the big screen, but I never intended to release it widely because short films like this are usually only sent to film festivals.

After winning the Golden Kite Award, we decided to release the song “Miracle” written by Hung. Seeing that the audience was very supportive and many people were curious about the film, we decided to show it in small theaters, just a few small screenings for the audience to see.

But when we posted it on social media, we got a lot of support, but we couldn't go see it because there were few tickets. So we decided to find a way to show it more widely. At that time, Beta took over the distribution, and the film was shown widely like it was recently.

- Promotion is a very important step in releasing a film. How did you do it and what difficulties did you face when bringing the film to theaters?

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat: We don't have much money, almost no budget for marketing. The distributor can only support steps like advertising on fanpage. Then we just post on Facebook, then ask our friends and colleagues to help spread the word. Luckily, everyone really appreciates the film so they proactively share it.

When we decided to show it for a week, we didn’t plan to show it commercially or compete with other films. We tried our best to negotiate with the distributor so that the theaters could show it at the cheapest price, only 39,000 VND, to achieve the pure purpose of showing gratitude to the audience - those who loved “Miracle” and wanted to see the film, without thinking about box office revenue at all.

- Can you tell us the total budget for the film up to the time of completion?

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat: I can't remember the exact number, but the filming phase cost about 600 to 700 million VND, all of which was paid for by the film crew. When the film was completed, the total cost was about 1 billion VND.

Receive negative feedback but feel happy

- It is known that Dat's parents are both in the medical field. How did your parents receive your decision to pursue art?

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat: I have studied medicine since I was young. Around 2016-2017, I started making YouTube videos for fun with some friends. I was surprised to find that I really love creating with images. It was the only job I thought could make me excited.

There were no cinemas in Moc Chau, so no one knew what a movie was. The only way I could approach cinema was when I went to Hanoi to visit my sister and was taken to the cinema. So when I said I would pursue cinema, my whole family was confused because they didn’t understand what cinema was. Later on, my family supported me more.

- It can be said that “Wooden Fish” has won over many audiences. In some famous forums about criticizing movies on social networks, there is also a lot of support and welcome. But at the same time, there are also responses that the movie is not complete, lacking in development, not really expanding from the MV that was done very well before… How do you receive those responses?

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat: In the past, I made many films, screened in limited numbers and received a lot of response from the audience. They enjoyed those screenings. This time, a film was screened to a very large audience, receiving many different opinions. I am very happy because it broadened many perspectives on how the general audience watches movies.

Later, I was even more surprised when many people praised and defended the film, many people understood the film in the direction I intended. It turns out that there are many audiences who like this type of film.

Besides the young audience, there were also older audiences who came to see the film and shared their thoughts during our cinetours. At first, I was a bit worried, but it turned out that they really understood the film very deeply and I was also very surprised when they really understood the whole film, including my parents.

In addition to “Wooden Fish,” Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat has the film “Páo’s Forest” (2023) which won first prize in the “My Vietnam ” competition organized by Netflix, the Hanoi International Film Festival award for Best Short Film, and entered the top 20 of CILECT (France). In 2025, Thanh Dat has the projects “Tan Sua” which entered the top 5 of the CJ Short Film Competition; “Bo Sua Bay” won the award for Best Genre Project at the Da Nang Asian Film Festival.

- In recent times, it can be said that Dat has had a relatively good relationship with film projects and awards. These must have been important sources of encouragement for you to continue having funding to make films?

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat: “Thank goodness” I also received a lot of funding to make films. All of them are aimed at the goal of making my first feature film, because when compared, short films are not worth much compared to feature films.

- Dat mentioned the element of luck. Are you afraid that one day your luck might reverse?

Director Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat: For me, being able to screen “Wooden Fish” is already a great fortune. But I always believe in my own readiness. Luck does not come to someone who lies still and waits for a gift to be sent. I always have to be ready, always improve myself, so that when the opportunity comes, I will immediately seize it, I am not talking about passive luck.

- Thank you Dat for sharing./.

Chairman of the Vietnam Cinema Association - Associate Professor, Dr. Do Lenh Hung Tu affirmed that a developed cinema industry does not only have films with high revenue and appeal outside of theaters, but must also have more diverse topics and reach more audiences.

Cinema observer Nguyen Anh Tuan (Vietnam Institute of Culture, Arts, Sports and Tourism) commented that "Wooden Fish" has a soulful quality, similar to the indie music genre that is popular among a segment of young audiences.

He believes that Thanh Dat is a young, fresh voice in cinema, and should be encouraged to create diversity for Vietnamese cinema. However, diversity also needs to go hand in hand with quality, where not only instinct but also the director's skills are needed.

“Young filmmakers need to be sensitive to the market and have a receptive spirit. Regardless of whether it is a commercial film or an independent film, they need an audience. To do this, they need to cultivate a lot to establish and hone their personal ego, their cinematic ego,” this observer commented.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/phim-30-phut-thang-dam-o-rap-viet-dao-dien-gen-z-bat-ngo-vi-tep-khach-hang-lon-post1052227.vnp