Vietnamese artists are in no way inferior to international artists.
The draft document for the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam is receiving enthusiastic attention and feedback from all levels of government, all strata of society, intellectuals, artists, researchers, and administrators nationwide.
The cultural sector is considered one of the special highlights, reflecting the profound development in the Party's theoretical thinking and strategic orientation regarding Vietnamese people and culture in the new era.
The stage for "Brother Overcoming a Thousand Obstacles" is grand and modern (Photo: Nguyen Ha Nam ).
In the last two years, we have witnessed a strong resurgence of Vietnamese culture, with music being widely discussed through concerts such as: " Brother Overcoming a Thousand Obstacles," "Brother Says Hi" (collectively referred to as "Brother") , "Homeland in My Heart," etc., attracting 30,000-50,000 viewers each night.
The sight of packed auditoriums has raised expectations among experts for the development of the domestic music market. Many experts believe that Vietnam can now host concerts of scale and quality "on par with those of Korean singers." Shows like "Brother" and " Homeland in My Heart " remind audiences of Blackpink's BornPink concert in Hanoi in 2023.
Besides music, cinema also underwent a significant transformation in 2025, with two films, " Red Rain" (grossing over 700 billion VND at the box office) and "Underground Tunnel " (grossing over 172 billion VND), dominating the box office and changing audiences' perceptions of war films in Vietnam.
Speaking to a reporter from Dan Tri newspaper , Mr. Le Quang Duc - Master of Cultural and Creative Industries, University of Sussex (UK) - said that the success of the music nights "Brother," " Homeland in My Heart ," and the films "Red Rain," "Underground Tunnel, " and the series of "hit" films by Tran Thanh and Ly Hai have set new standards in terms of organizational scale and cultural dissemination among the public.
These achievements demonstrate a profound shift in the mindset regarding the production and consumption of Vietnamese culture: From being considered a "non-profit," culture is asserting its role as a leading industry that can make a practical contribution to economic growth.
This is something that many countries have already done, such as the United Kingdom – where the creative industries account for more than 6% of GDP and are one of the key pillars of the national economy – and are now striving for.
Recent music concerts have attracted up to 50,000 attendees, demonstrating the appeal of investment in culture (Photo: Nguyen Ha Nam).
Mr. Quang Duc also mentioned that Vietnam's cultural industry is gradually reaching a global audience, with phenomena such as Hoang Thuy Linh's song "See Tinh ," Tang Duy Tan's " Ben Tren Tang Lau," and singer Duc Phuc's victory at Intervision 2025 in Russia being positive signs in positioning Vietnam's cultural brand.
However, Mr. Le Quang Duc argues that a distinction should be made between individual success and systemic achievement. Mr. Duc points out that Vietnamese artists are in no way inferior to international artists in terms of ability, sensibility, or trends, but there remains a vast gap between individual talent and the power of the "music industry."
"A few swallows don't make a spring. We can look to South Korea – where the success of Kpop isn't simply about songwriting or performing, but an entire ecosystem encompassing training, production, performance, branding, and cultural export. All of this is part of a long-term national strategy."
I believe we should start with models that have a wide reach, such as music reality TV shows, but with a local format that reflects the soul and identity of Vietnam.
"It's not about simply copying forms from abroad, but about creating a new space, from the stories, sounds, and images of Vietnam itself. That could be our own path – just as England and South Korea have developed their own distinct musical styles," Quang Duc remarked.
This expert stated that current successes should be viewed not merely as isolated incidents, but as catalysts for long-term policy planning, positioning the cultural industry as one of the pillars of sustainable development and national identity in the era of globalization.
Associate Professor Bui Hoai Son - a full-time member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society - shared with Dan Tri newspaper that, in order to bring Vietnamese music and film products to the international stage, the important factor is not only where our products appear, but also whether the quality, identity, and message of Vietnam can touch the hearts of international friends.
"In fact, 'Red Rain' has received invitations to be screened at many international film festivals, the ' Homeland in My Heart' concert , and the 'Brother' music nights. These are not just music shows but have become cultural and spiritual events , bringing the story of Vietnam and love for Vietnam to communities both domestically and internationally."
"These are the first, but very reliable, signals that we have begun to bring the voice and culture of Vietnam to the world by telling our own story," Mr. Bui Hoai Son shared.
The film "Red Rain" became a box office phenomenon in 2025 with revenue exceeding 700 billion VND (Photo: Provided by the film crew).
However, expert Quang Duc pointed out that many films with huge domestic box office revenues, such as " The Godfather," "Mrs. Nu's House," and Tran Thanh's "Mai," only achieved modest revenues when released abroad, with the main audience being overseas Vietnamese.
Even Red Rain – a domestic box office phenomenon – has recently agreed to expand its distribution to international markets.
"In a regional context, we are still quite far behind developed cultural industries like South Korea, Japan, China, or even Thailand."
For example, the Thai film " The Grandmother's Legacy" grossed 90 billion VND in Vietnam – a foreign market. Meanwhile, perhaps no Vietnamese film has achieved even 1 billion VND (or 100 million VND) in Thai theaters.
From this perspective, the dream of a Vietnamese "blockbuster" film that will have a widespread impact in Asia, let alone the world, still faces many challenges.
It requires not only the creative efforts of the artist, but also strategic coordination between the state, businesses, the media ecosystem, and international distribution platforms. A film can be released in theaters, but to "reach the world," it needs a system – a system that we are currently building piecemeal," Mr. Le Quang Duc stated frankly.
To venture into the global market, we need to focus on the cultural value chain.
Associate Professor Bui Hoai Son further shared that, building on the initial successes of Vietnamese music and cinema in recent years, Vietnamese culture is entering a new era - an era of confidence, integration, and the creation of national soft power.
Accordingly, the 14th National Congress is an opportunity for us to design stronger institutions and policies, to nurture that creative flow so that we not only have more " Red Rain" events and national-level concerts, but also to build a powerful cultural industry.
People's Artist Thu Huyền (center) looks graceful in the performance of "Dao Lieu," a piece deeply rooted in traditional culture, at the concert "Brother Overcoming Thousands of Obstacles" (Photo: Nguyen Ha Nam).
Master's degree holder Le Quang Duc argues that developing a strong Vietnamese culture requires a clear, practical, and long-term national strategy – not just theoretical seminars or nominal associations.
Accordingly, that strategy needs to clearly identify the key sectors that should be prioritized, such as performing music and film, thereby creating a legal framework, support mechanisms, and especially a creative space for private enterprises and independent creative organizations.
“One of the factors that needs special attention is the public-private partnership mechanism. We need to avoid unfortunate situations like the case of the film ' Peach, Pho and Piano ,' where audiences wanted to see it but there weren't many theaters showing it, and only later did a few private theaters release the film. If a work has appeal but doesn't reach the public, it's a waste of both resources and trust.”
"For the cultural industry to 'venture into the global market,' Vietnam needs a vision that focuses not only on products but also on the entire value chain: from training creative human resources, production, distribution to global marketing. And above all, it is essential to preserve cultural identity – the very thing that creates the uniqueness and long-term appeal of any cultural industry in the world," Mr. Quang Duc expressed.
Mr. Bui Hoai Son predicts that in the next 2-3 years, Vietnamese music and film will continue to make breakthroughs. This is not a subjective assessment, but based on very clear practical grounds: the rapidly increasing audience market size, the maturation of young creative forces, the formation of more professional production and distribution models, and especially a stronger cultural confidence than ever before.
This is the stage where we must seize the opportunity to shift from phenomenal successes to institutional and ecological achievements.
According to Mr. Son, to have more works reach international acclaim, we need to prioritize three aspects: First, perfecting the institutional framework to encourage creativity. We need bolder policies regarding cultural investment funds, tax incentives, commissioning public art products, supporting international distribution, and a comprehensive legal framework on copyright, creative commercialization, and intellectual property protection.
Culture can only become an industry when artists can create with peace of mind, when businesses can invest with confidence, and when professional standards, ethics, and copyright are protected.
Secondly, there's the investment in infrastructure and innovative technologies. The world is witnessing a fusion of art and technology: artificial intelligence, the digital universe, performance technology, modern sound and lighting, and global-scale livestreaming.
Vietnam can absolutely advance rapidly by promoting cultural industry centers, international-standard film studios, modern performance centers, and digital platforms developed by Vietnamese people to bring products to the world. This is not just about investing in physical assets, but about investing in future competitiveness.
Third and most importantly, human development is crucial. International-level cinema is impossible without talented screenwriters, skilled directors, sound and lighting engineers, producers, and a professional media team.
A great music scene is impossible without talented musicians, music producers, talent managers, and an internationally integrated training system. We need a strategy of in-depth training, talent scholarships, international collaboration, and encouragement for young artists to take risks and tell the Vietnamese story in a global language.
From a visionary perspective, Mr. Bui Hoai Son believes that we can not only keep up with trends but also shape new trends if we know how to leverage our unique identity, something that major cultural industries around the world are seeking to renew themselves.
"As Vietnam enters a new era of development with the spirit of 'aspiration for national strength,' the cultural sector has the responsibility to accompany it by creating cultural symbols, monumental works, and stories that spread Vietnamese values to the world," he said.
Associate Professor Bui Hoai Son - a full-time member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society - shared his views on the "Red Rain" phenomenon with a reporter from Dan Tri newspaper (Photo: Dan Tri).
Mr. Son also agreed with expert Quang Duc that the biggest challenge today lies not only in resources or technology, but more fundamentally in institutions and the development environment.
Despite many positive changes, the policy system for culture remains fragmented, lacking breakthrough mechanisms regarding capital, taxation, public-private investment, creative commissioning, and clear standards on professionalism, ethics, and copyright in the digital environment. These are bottlenecks that we must quickly address if we want to compete on the international stage.
Another challenge is training professional human resources for the cultural industry. The market is developing very rapidly, but the workforce – from screenwriters, directors, producers, technicians, artist managers, media… to cultural management teams – is not yet sufficient in both quantity and quality.
We need a systematic, modern, and internationally interconnected training strategy; we need to transform cultural and arts schools into "creative incubators," where teaching, practice, cultural entrepreneurship, and technology are combined.
Furthermore, the creative ecosystem still needs to be expanded more significantly. Cultural institutions have not truly become a driving force for innovation; the connection between policies, businesses, training institutions, and artists remains fragmented; and the mechanisms for social participation need to be more transparent and open.
In particular, in the digital age, the issues of content management, identity protection, and nurturing public taste must be given due attention to both encourage free creativity and ensure cultural, ethical values and national identity.
But these very challenges also open up opportunities for us to innovate our thinking and act more decisively. Our Party is preparing for the 14th National Congress, in which culture is clearly defined as the foundation, resource, intrinsic strength, and driving force for development.
This is the golden opportunity to institutionalize that vision through groundbreaking policies, by creating an open, modern, and humane creative environment, nurturing talent, and encouraging society to invest in culture.
Associate Professor Bui Hoai Son also believes that, with increasingly improved technical quality, increasingly professional production thinking, the support of the state through the cultural industry development strategy, and increasingly strong social resources, we can absolutely say that the dream of cinematic and musical works of Asian, or even global, stature is no longer far-fetched.
Experts believe that, with synchronized investment, Vietnam's cultural industry will develop in line with the trends of the times (Illustrative image: Nguyen Ha Nam).
"Above all, recent success gives us more confidence: When talent is given the opportunity, when the market operates according to proper rules, and when culture is properly positioned, Vietnam can absolutely step out into the world with its own values, identity, and aspirations."
"This is the time for us to strengthen that belief with strategic policies that encourage creativity, protect identity, and promote deeper integration in the cultural field," expressed the member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society.
Dantri.com.vn
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giai-tri/tu-anh-trai-den-phim-mua-do-viet-nam-mang-chuong-di-xu-nguoi-duoc-chua-20251110032121585.htm
Comment (0)