Asian film festival opens with celebrities in attendance

Dancers perform in the opening ceremony of the first Đà Nẵng Asian Film Festival at Đà Nẵng City's Trưng Vương Theatre on Tuesday. The event is open from May 9 to13. — Photo courtesy of Trần Lê Lâm

ĐÀ NẴNG — A star-studded line-up celebrated the opening of the first Đà Nẵng Asian Film Festival (DANAFF) on Tuesday.

Among the well-known faces were South Korean film actress, director and screenwriter Moon Sori, Vietnamese actress Như Quỳnh, Vietnamese director Phan Đăng Di, and Vice President Communications, Asia Pacific Motion Picture Association Stephen Jenner.

The event organising board said 89 film screening programmes with 12,000 tickets would be taken during the five-day festival at the main cinema theatres of Lê Độ, CGV and Galaxy, as well as outdoor programmes for the public.

Visitors on the Red Carpet at the Đà Nẵng Asian Film Festival. The event is one of the biggest film festivals in Asia that Đà Nẵng has hosted. — VNS Photo Công Thành

Ngô Phương Lan, chairwoman of the Việt Nam Film Development Association and director of DANAFF, said the festival, which embedded the symbol ‘city of the bridge’, aims to promote the slogan ‘Bridging Asia’ in marking the recovery of the cinema industry in Asia after the COVID-19.

“The organising board has made many efforts to set up the festival opening in the schedule, and 90 per cent of the jury members joined the event," Lan said. "It’s also the first film festival the Asia jury board will decide Vietnamese film awards.”

She said South Korean film actress, director and screenwriter Moon Sori had arranged time to present at the festival as head of the jury.

Two competition categories – Asian films and Vietnamese film awards – are offered at the festival along with an award for Vietnamese film with the audience vote in the ‘Vietnamese Cinema Today’ programme, Lan added.

Two seminars on Vietnamese film industry development and co-production prospect of the Japanese and Vietnamese film industries will be taken place at the festival.

The ‘talent incubator’ workshop, which was seen as a face-lift of the annual Autumn Meeting, has drawn 37 young directors, actors, actresses and beginning trainees of the cinema industry from Việt Nam, Korea and Japan under the instructions from two lecturers – South Korean Lydia Park and Japanese Sugiyama Tsuyoshi – in basic acting and advanced acting skills courses.

Lydia Park, director and actress, said she joined the Autumn Meet, or the ‘Talent Incubator’ workshop now, in 2016, and the workshop has played as a rendezvous for young people exchanging with directors and film producers as well as beginning their acting and film directing career in the future.

South Korean film actress, director and screenwriter Moon Sori, the head jury of Đà Nẵng Asian Film Festival, joins the opening ceremony at Đà Nẵng City's Trưng Vương Theatre. — VNS Photo Công Thành

“It’s very honour to join the workshop in Việt Nam and Đà Nẵng," Park said. "The workshop is a significant programme for cinematography development in Asia. I want Việt Nam film industry to develop and join the world-class.”

“I also shared information of the workshop and Vietnamese film industry at training courses in universities in Korea. Young people attending the workshop would be new talents in the future,” she said.

The film festival will offer awards of Best Film; Jury Award; Best Director; Best Actor and Actress; Best Screenplay for both Asian film and Vietnamese film competitions.

South Korean Lydia Park, director and actress, lectures at the ‘Talent Incubator’ workshop at the Đà Nẵng Asian Film Festival. The programme is part of the festival for young actors, actresses and directors. — VNS Photo Công Thành

According to the festival organisers, award-winning Vietnamese films like Tro Tàn Rực Rỡ (Glorious Ashes), Những Đứa Trẻ Trong Sương (Children of the Mist) and Memento Mori: Đất (Memento Mori: Earth) will be competing with 11 other excellent Asian films such as Joyland from Pakistan or Muru from New Zealand in the five-day event.

Vietnamese audiences get in a film screening programme at Đà Nẵng Asian Film Festival on May 9. EIghty nine film screening programme will be held on May 9-13. — Photo courtesy of Dương Phương

The film award winners will be announced at the city’s Trưng Vương Theatre at 8pm on May 13.