Vietnam - Which film to be chosen for Oscar 2012?

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam did not send any movie to compete for the Best Foreign Language Film Award of the Oscar 2011. This year it has many films that meet Oscar’s standards.

The deadline to submit movies to the organizing board of the Oscar 2012 is October 1, but many countries have completed this task. Only five films will be nominated and one will win the Best Foreign Language Film Award.

Last year Vietnam did not submit any entry because nominated films did not qualify the criteria of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). This year, many Vietnamese, not mentioning the contents, meet the AMPAS’ criteria.

Films competing in the Foreign Language Film category must have been first released in the country submitting them during the eligibility period defined by the rules of the Academy, and must have been exhibited for at least seven consecutive days in a commercial movie theater.

Vietnam has many movies that meet this rule, such as “War of Brides”, “Ghost at School”, “Angle 99”, “Saigon Yo!”, “Between Two Worlds”, “Dance of Passion” and “Long Ruoi”. However, “Bi, Don’t Be Afraid” is seen as the top candidate for the Oscar 2012.

Last year, “Bi, Don’t Be Afraid” could not go to Oscar though it won several international prizes because it went to cinemas in March 2011. So far, the movie has participated in a dozen of international film festivals and won many prizes. It has been chosen to open the Asian Film Festival in Berlin in late 2011.

“Floating Lives”, which was a phenomenon at local cinemas last October, is also a potential candidate. This movie joined the Busan Film Festival in South Korea.

The two above movies, which describe different angles in Vietnam’s society, are all deserved to be Vietnam’s representative at the Oscar.

Some historical movies like “Thang Long Aspiration” and “The Fate of a Songstress in Thang Long” also qualified.

However, of the above movies, only several have English subtitle, including “Floating Live”, “Bi, Don’t Be Afraid”, “Thang Long Aspiration” and “The Fate of a Songstress in Thang Long”.

Vietnam still has over 3 weeks to choose its representative movie for the Oscar 2012.

In 2010, “Don’t Burn” was submitted to the Oscar after one year of interruption. Earlier, “White Silk Dress”, “Buffalo Boy”, “Pao’s Story “were sent to the US but they were not nominated.

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.

Unlike other Academy Awards, the Best Foreign Language Film Award is not presented to a specific individual. It is accepted by the winning film's director, but is considered an award for the submitting country as a whole.

Every country is invited to submit what it considers its best film to the Academy. The designation of each country's official submission has to be done by an organization, jury or committee composed of people from the film industry, whose members' names must be sent to the Academy. Only one film is accepted from each country.

After each country has designated its official entry, English-subtitled copies of all submitted films are shipped to the Academy, where they are screened by the Foreign Language Film Award Committee(s), whose members select by secret ballot the five official nominations. Final voting for the winner is restricted to active and life Academy members who have attended exhibitions of all five nominated films.

Storylines of Vietnamese movies those are qualified for the Oscar 2012:

- Ghost at School is a comic horror film about an online thriller writer who is haunted by a bunch of young people's ghosts. The US$1 million production stars dozens of young pop stars and fashion models like Wanbi Tuan Anh, Truong Quynh Anh, and Dinh Ngoc Diep. This is the first 3D movie of Vietnam.

- Between the Two Worlds is about a young wife's obsession and fear of ghosts who inhabit the house of her rich husband. To free herself, the wife overcomes her fear and reveals the mystery of the house. The film features overseas Vietnamese actor Dustin Nguyen, who is well-known in Vietnam through his role as a French secret policeman in Chanh Phuong Film Studio's Dong Mau Anh Hung (The Rebel). Actress Dinh Ngoc Diep, who came to prominence after BHD film War of Brides, plays the obsessed wife.

                                                                                                                                 

- Long Ruoi (Long the Fly), an action-comedy produced by Thien Ngan (Galaxy), BHD and Early Riser Media Group, is directed by Vietnamese-American director Charlie Nguyen. This film is about a switch between a rural man and the leader of a crime gang, Long Ruoi. A poor cook from the countryside, Teo, looks so much like the gang boss that the gang members force him to act as their leader, who is in hospital after a fight with rivals. Teo has to constantly ward off conspiracies to assassinate him. Film star Thai Hoa plays Teo and Long Ruoi. Hoa became known last year after playing a gay man in Fool for Love.

- The Fate of a Songstress in Thang Long tells the story of the hard lives of the Vietnamese people between 1783 and 1813 through the sorrowful love story of great poet, Ngyen Du and a young woman named Cam. This is the first time the great poet's life has been transferred onto the silver screen.

- Thang Long Aspiration is on the life of King Ly Thai To, who moved the capital from Hoa Lu (now in the northern province of Ninh Binh Province) to Thang Long (today's Ha Noi). The producer, Ky Nguyen Sang Company, released the film to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi last year.

- Angle 99 is a fantasy-love story about a cupid and an ordinary girl who believe love is a game but are finally forced to do some rethinking.

- Dance of Passion and Saigon Yo! are two movies of the same topic: the passion for dancing of some youngsters.

- Bi, Don’t Be Afraid narrates the story of a young boy called Bi who lives with his mother, father and aunt in a house in Hanoi. When Bi's grandfather, who has been absent for many years, suddenly reappears, the family are once again reunited. However, his return turns out to be far from auspicious. Bi's father begins to stay out late, to the point where he stops coming home at all in what appears to be a way of coming to turns with his own loneliness when his own father was absent. Meanwhile, Bi's aunt falls in love with a young man whom she meets on a bus, his father falls in love with a masseuse and his mother behaves as if nothing has changed.

- Floating Lives, directed by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh, tells the story of a family who leads a nomadic life on rivers in Mekong Delta region. The main character is Vo (played by overseas Vietnamese actor Dustin Nguyen) whose wife leaves him for a cloth vendor. He seeks solace in other women, whom he jilts as soon as they have fallen in love with him. When Suong (acted by Do Thi Hai Yen), a prostitute, joins the family, Vo's daughter and son welcome her and love her. Vo's affection for her also grows.

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