Quang Ninh through the lens of documents
The famous documentary filmmaker Pattricio Guzman once said: "A country without documentaries is like a family without photo albums." With the strength of reflecting the truth in the most objective and honest way through films rich in aesthetics, with documentary depth and artistic emotions, documentaries themselves have created an attraction for professionals and especially for audiences. Therefore, although this is a difficult genre, it always urges documentary enthusiasts to strive to overcome difficulties to bring attractive films to the public.
Quang Ninh is a fertile land for documentary films. The convergence of natural beauty, colorful culture and the vibrant life of a land with great potential for economic and tourism development are valuable materials for documentary films to be born.
In the past, there were a number of documentaries about the land and people of Quang Ninh by central authors that resonated with international friends, such as the film “The Waves and Winds” by director Ngoc Quynh, which won the Gold Medal at the Moscow Film Festival in 1967 and the Golden Lotus Award at the first Vietnam Film Festival in 1970. The film “Quang Ninh, the Legendary Land” was broadcast on French television.
In 2016, the film crew of the Italian national television station RAI made a documentary broadcast on the program “TG2 Dossier” - a famous documentary section. The film was filmed at many famous tourist destinations in Vietnam, in which Ha Long Bay was a special highlight. Through that, the image of the country and people of Vietnam in general, and Quang Ninh in particular, was promoted to a large Italian audience.
For the Quang Ninh Radio and Television Station in the past and now the Quang Ninh Provincial Media Center, the documentary genre has always been invested in, although this is a genre that requires a lot of time, effort, and money to complete a work. In addition to the documentary films ordered by the province, departments, branches, and sectors on special commemorative events, the filmmaking team of the Quang Ninh Provincial Media Center also devotes much effort to memoirs and documentaries about the land and people of Quang Ninh, along with unique indigenous cultural features.
We can mention the series "Binh Lieu Chronicle", "Return to the Green Tien Yen", the film "The Coal Tells Stories", "Bach Dang - Epic Song", "Quang Ninh - Journey of Innovation", "Labor Hero Nguyen Ngoc Ham - The People's Physician", or recently the works Fire of the Coal, Van Don Commercial Port - The First Commercial Port of Dai Viet, Overcoming the Storm, Quang Ninh Television Chronicle, 70 Years of Liberation of the Mining Region, Quang Ninh Literature and Arts - Half a Century of Creativity, Buddhist King Tran Nhan Tong and the Yen Tu Landscape, Quang Ninh Press - Milestones of the Century...
Several documentaries have received awards at national television festivals. In particular, the work Halong Wonders by author Tung Bac won second prize at the 6th FICTS-Vietnam International Film, Television, Sports and Tourism Festival in 2012.
Journalist Nguyen The Lam, Director of the Quang Ninh Provincial Media Center, said: In addition to current news, documentaries can be considered the “soul” of a press agency. Therefore, we always pay attention to and encourage authors to produce works of this genre. Documentary films not only bring informational value at the time of their release, but are also extremely vivid, authentic and valuable visual materials for future generations when they want to look back at the history and stories of this land.
The story behind the frame
The power of documentaries lies in their ability to tell stories through images through diverse genres from portraits, history, science, investigation, and memoirs. Expressive close-up angles, natural lighting, and everyday sounds all combine to create a unique expressive language. A good documentary not only needs beautiful camera angles or emotional background music, but most importantly, the story conveyed must be authentic and the characters' emotions must not be staged. That requires the filmmaker to observe carefully, capture natural moments, and turn visual data into a profound message.
“Overcoming the Storm” is a typical documentary film that demonstrates the ability to tell stories through images. The film was produced by a group of authors from the News Department - Quang Ninh Provincial Media Center. As its name suggests, this film reflects the resilient spirit of overcoming storm No. 3 Yagi of the people of Quang Ninh. The 30-minute film with valuable images of the devastation caused by the storm, touching stories about human love, military-civilian love in the storm of the century, is a clear demonstration of the power of storytelling through images in documentaries.
As one of the authors of this documentary, reporter Nguyen Trang, News Department, Quang Ninh Provincial Media Center, shared: To capture the most authentic frames, we had to work in extremely harsh conditions, without enough time to set up the equipment, the camera was shaking because of the wind, the lens was blurred because of the water, the reporters at the scene were also blown away by the wind, sometimes they could not stand still. But in that situation, the images had a strong impact, became more vivid and emotional than any description. Witnessing the losses and devastation of Quang Ninh after the storm, that feeling is still very painful when recalled now, but also proud because Quang Ninh has really steadfastly overcome the storm. And we have tried to convey all those emotions into this film.
As for the film about Labor Hero - People's Physician Nguyen Ngoc Ham, although at the time of filming the main character was no longer there, the film crew had many difficulties in finding documents and connecting with related characters, but through the remaining images, through the stories of friends, colleagues at home and abroad, the stories of the family and especially the patients who were treated by Doctor Nguyen Ngoc Ham, the legacy of medical ethics and humanity that People's Physician Nguyen Ngoc Ham left for life still appears intact and full of emotion in the film.
Cameraman Xuan Hoang, Department of Arts - Sports - Entertainment, Provincial Media Center, who filmed this film, shared: During the filming of the film from North to South, meeting the characters who used to be friends and colleagues of Dr. Ham, they all had great respect and admiration for his personality and talent. I listened very attentively to their sharing during the interview to get emotional frames, promptly capturing "valuable" details such as the eyes filled with tears of emotion at Dr. Ham's dedication and sacrifice to save patients, or the smiles of leading medical professors and friends from Sweden when mentioning their friend - Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Ham.
Try your hand at a multi-episode documentary
Not stopping at one-episode documentaries, in recent years, Quang Ninh directors have tried their hand at films without commentary, telling stories entirely through images and especially started making multi-episode documentaries, massive in both capacity and content.
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Quang Ninh province, in 2023, the Quang Ninh Provincial Media Center produced the 13-episode documentary "Quang Ninh Television Chronicle", each episode lasting 25-30 minutes, combining historical documents, commentary and modern graphic techniques. The film reflects the formation and development process of the Northeast region over thousands of years of history; especially the 60-year period since the establishment of Quang Ninh province. This can be considered the most massive documentary about Quang Ninh made to date, recreating a flow of memories through frames.
To complete this film, the production team had to prepare for a whole year and spent 6 months meeting the characters, interviewing, filming, and post-producing the film. During that process, the groups actively searched, approached, and exploited many valuable documents, images, and materials about Quang Ninh from the Central Scientific Documentary Film Studio, People's Army Cinema, Vietnam Television, National Archives Center... including many documents that were published for the first time on QTV.
Journalist Nguyen Minh Toan, reporter of the News Department, Provincial Media Center, said: This is a work of great scale and very special nature, a historical film with a large amount of information. Therefore, it requires us to be meticulous and elaborate in every stage of production, refer to many historical documents and opinions of experts to build the script outline. Besides, we also met and listened to stories from former leaders of Quang Ninh province and historical witnesses. At the same time, we searched for visual materials from many sources to vividly and fully convey historical milestones, creating an emotional flow for the film.
The combination of visual language, graphics and storytelling that closely connects events, combined with interviews with historical witnesses from many periods... has made this documentary by QMG create a strong influence.
Next, the Provincial Media Center continued to produce a series of 5 documentary episodes "Buddha King Tran Nhan Tong and Yen Tu scenic spot" which won the Third Prize at the National Television Festival in 2025. This is also an elaborate documentary, gathering the most beautiful footage of Yen Tu through 4 seasons, telling the story of the journey of practice and enlightenment of Buddha King Tran Nhan Tong associated with Yen Tu heritage as well as the development of Truc Lam Buddhism through different periods.
In order to improve the quality of documentary film production, every year the Provincial Media Center regularly sends directors, screenwriters, and cameramen of the Center to participate in short-term and intensive training courses on documentaries organized by the Vietnam Journalists Association, Vietnam Television, etc., inviting experts such as Director - People's Artist Le Hong Chuong; Director - People's Artist Nguyen Thuoc; sound expert Nguyen Dinh Canh, etc. to Quang Ninh to exchange professional skills in making documentaries. The way of telling stories through images in films is always emphasized, especially with the trend of making documentaries without commentary. Thanks to that, the quality of filmmaking is improved, gradually approaching modern filmmaking. Issues of sound, light, noise, and music in films are also handled more skillfully and delicately.
Someone once said that “documentary is a documentary that is made” because making documentaries locally does not have the conditions and equipment as good as film studios, national television stations or big city television stations in the country. But it is the locality in each locality that creates the unique appeal for each documentary.
The rich reality and the rapid movements and changes of today's life require the documentary filmmakers of Quang Ninh Media Center to not only be sensitive in finding film topics, but also to have innovations and creativity in the language of expression, to explore new directions of exploitation to meet the increasing demands of viewers. And the public's reception of documentaries on QTV has urged filmmakers to constantly strive to improve their professional skills, to play the role of storytellers well and to preserve time through precious documentary footage.
Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/phim-tai-lieu-nhung-khung-hinh-ke-chuyen-3361228.html
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