The move from a subsidised to a market economy since 1986 has brought both challenges and opportunities to Vietnamese filmmakers

The exponential growth in both the television networks and the video market from the late 1980s dealt a serious blow to the Vietnamese film industry. Working with inadequate funds and largely obsolete equipment, the state-owned producers - the Việt Nam Feature Film Studio (Hãng phim Truyện Việt Nam), the Giải phóng (Liberation) Film Studio (Hãng Phim Giải Phóng) and since 1990 a third major film studio known as Feature Film Studio 01 (Hãng phim Truyện 01) - have found it difficult to compete profitably in the marketplace.

Accordingly, the number of films produced in Việt Nam has declined steeply since 1987, with the Vietnamese feature film market becoming increasingly dominated by imported films from Asia, Europe and the USA. As a result, many leading film actors and actresses have turned their talents to other more lucrative work, such as television. However, despite these difficulties Việt Nam's resource of well-trained filmmakers has continued to produce a modest number of films at a fraction of the cost of those made by their counterparts overseas, while recent changes to the regulations governing the subsidy, production, distribution and exhibition of film have opened up several new avenues of opportunity for the sector as a whole.

Even before the inception of đổi mới, Vietnamese feature film directors were beginning to explore new themes and styles, as evidenced by Trần Văn Thủy’s groundbreaking Hà Nội trong mắt ai? (‘Hà Nội Through Whose Eyes’, 1983) and Chuyện tử tế (‘Story of Good Behaviour’, 1987) and Trần Anh Trà’s Người công giáo huyện Thống Nhất (‘A Catholic in Thống Nhất District’, 1985). By this time the work of Vietnamese filmmakers had begun to attract interest in western Europe and neighbouring Asia-Pacific countries, and by the early 1990s Vietnamese cinema was appearing regularly on the film festival and art-house circuit in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. In addition to the works of Trần Văn Thủy, films achieving international acclaim during this period included Trần Vũ’s Anh và em (‘Siblings’, 1986), Ðặng Nhật Minh’s Cô gái trên sông (‘Girl on the River’, 1987) and Nguyển Khắc Lợi’s Tướng về hưu (‘The Retired General’, 1988), together with several works by younger directors, notably Việt Linh’s Gánh xiếc rong (‘The Itinerant Circus’, 1989) and Dấu ấn của quỷ (‘The Evil Sign’, 1992), Lê Dân’s Xương rồng đen (‘Black Cactus’, 1991), Lưu Trọng Ninh’s Canh bạc (‘Gambling’, 1991) and Hãy tha thứ cho em (‘Please Forgive Me’, 1992), Lê Hoàng’s Lương tâm bé bỏng (‘Little Conscience’, 1992), Lê Xuân Hoàng’s Vị đắng tình yêu (‘Bitter Love’, 1992) and Vương Ðức’s Cỏ lau (‘The Reed’, 1993).

In recent years Vietnamese cinema has attained numerous successes at international film festivals, both in Asia and beyond. Trần Văn Thủy's moving documentary Tiếng vĩ cầm ở Mỹ Lai ('The Sound of the Violin at Mỹ Lai', 1999) won Best Short Film prize at the 43rd Asia Pacific Film Festival in Thailand (1999), and when Việt Nam hosted the 44th Festival in Hà Nội in December 2000, the feature film Đời cát ('Sandy Life', 2000), already the recipient of a special prize from the International Amiens Film Festival, won Best Picture Award for its director Nguyễn Thanh Vân (son of veteran director Hải Ninh).

Meanwhile in Europe Bùi Thạc Chuyên's Cuốc xe đêm ('Night Cyclo Trip', 2000) won third prize in the Short Film category at the Cannes Film Festival 2000, while female director Việt Linh’s Mê Thảo thời vang bóng (‘Glorious Time in Mê Thảo Hamlet’, 2002) won the golden Rosa Camuna Award at the 2003 Bergamo Film Meeting in Italy and was also entered in competition at the 2003 Namur International Film Festival in France.

Along with the afore-mentioned 'Night Cyclo Trip', The Woodcutters’ and 'Glorious Time in Mê Thảo Hamlet’, Việt Linh’s Chung cư (‘Communal Living Quarters, 1999), Ðặng Nhật Minh’s Mùa ổi (‘Guava Season’, 2001), and Vương Đức’s Của rơi (‘A Dropped Gift’) have all been distributed overseas for screening in European art-house cinemas. However, foreign film distributors often complain about the sound quality of Vietnamese films, and in many cases soundtracks have to be completely re-engineered before the films can be screened, greatly limiting the amount which can be charged for the foreign distribution rights. Phạm Nhuệ Giang’s acclaimed 2002 film Thung lũng hoang vắng (‘The Deserted Valley’) had to be redubbed in Korea before it could be distributed there and Ðỗ Minh Tuấn's Điện Biên Phủ epic Người Hàng Binh ('A Surrendered Soldier', 2004) was sent to Thailand for its post-production work. Against this background the Cinema Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has recently announced plans to invest heavily in new technical equipment for the state film studios.

One of the most successful local films of recent years at the Vietnamese box office has been Phi Tiến Sơn’s Lưới trời (‘Heaven’s Net’), a film about corruption which closely mirrors the recent trial of Năm Cam’s criminal gang in Hồ Chí Minh City. However, to date nothing has rivalled the phenomenal box office success of Lê Hoàng’s Gái nhảy (‘Bar Girls’, 2002), which dealt with the tough reality of HIV/AIDS and the seedy underbelly of Hồ Chí Minh City’s nightlife, breaking all box office records and taking nearly 15 billion VNĐ (cUS$1 million) on its release in February 2003. Its sequel, Lọ lem hè phố (‘Street Cinderella’), also did excellent business at the box office in 2004.

Over the past decade the encouragement of international co-operation has paved the way for a series of important co-operative film projects, injecting much-needed foreign capital into the Vietnamese film industry.

More recent international co-productions of note include the Việt Nam War film Vũ khúc con cò (‘Song of the Stork’, 2002), a co-production between Việt Nam and Singapore co-directed by Nguyễn Phan Quang Bình and Jonathan Foo; the docu-drama Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Hồng Công (2003), a co-production between the Việt Nam Writers’ Association Film Studio and the Zhoujiang Film Studio in China’s Guangdong Province, co-directed by Nguyễn Khắc Lợi and Yuan Shiji, which tells the story of Hồ Chí Minh’s life in Hong Kong during the 1930s; and Mùa len trâu (‘Buffalo Boy’, 2003), a collaboration between Giải Phóng Film Studio, France’s 3B Productions and Belgium’s NOVAK directed by Việt Kiều Director Nguyễn Võ Nghiêm Minh, which emerged a prominent winner at the 2004 Chicago Film Festival.

At the time of going to press it is still too early to say whether or not the shooting of Philip Noyce’s remake of The Quiet American on the streets of Hồ Chí Minh City, Hội An, Ninh Bình and Hà Nội in 2001 marked the beginning of a serious attempt by the government to promote Việt Nam as an attractive location for foreign filmmakers.

An important development of recent years has been the newfound partnership of one-time competitors, film and television.

Under a pilot project entitled Điện ảnh chiều thứ bảy ('Saturday Afternoon Film'), set up jointly in 2000 by Việt Nam Television and the Cinema Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, a series of made-for-television movies were commissioned from leading film directors with the aim of creating quality local product to take the place of imported soap operas and feature films. Since that time more and more Vietnamese filmmakers have turned to making TV movies and mini-series, the demand for which has since grown significantly due to new government licencing regulations which stipulate that Vietnamese films and TV series must account for at least 50 per cent of those broadcast on national television.

In 2003 too, the Việt Nam Feature Film Studio còllaborated with Katana Film Studio of Thailand to produce the first Việt Nam-Thailand co-production, an acclaimed five-part TV movie entitled Tình xa (‘Distant Love’).