Da Nang is hosting the annual cinema festival from 8-16 November, to encourage future filmmakers and promote bilateral cooperation with international filmmakers.

Korean internationally renowned actress Moon So-ri will attend the Autumn Meeting 2016 in Da Nang. (Source: xinhua)

The event, called Gap Go Mua Thu (Autumn Meeting), will also include 3 training courses on acting, film direction, and producing low-budget films.

The film direction session will be conducted by award-winning Director Tran Anh Hung, and the session will be attended by 12 students from Viet Nam, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Malaysia.

This is the 4^th consecutive year that Vietnamese-born French Director Hung has attended the Autumn Meeting and conducted workshops. At the end of the class, Hung will hand out a Film of Future award to the best student.

Hung’s latest movie Eternity was released in Viet Nam in August. His Mui Du Du Xanh (The Scent of Green Papaya) was nominated in the Best Foreign Language category at the Oscars in 1993, while Xich Lo (Cyclo) won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1995.

In addition to new faces selected by directors Charlie Nguyen and Nguyen Quang Dung, the acting class will see the participation of many young artors and actress.

The aspiring actors will be tutored by the RoK’s Lydia Park and internationally renowned actress Moon Sori, the first Korean actress to have become a juror at the Venice Film Festival, where in 2002, she won the Youth Actress award for her performance in Oasis .

The session on how to make low-budget films will be conducted by Indonesian director Joko Anwar and his producer Tia Hasibuan. Joko’s A Copy of My Mind was produced with a capital of 15,000 USD and screened at such international film festivals as Toronto Film Festival and Osaka Asian Film Festival.

Other activities organised at the event include Autumn Meeting 2016 In Focus: Short Film Collection from Kaohsiung , seminars, the Art-House Corner and the Entertainment Film World.

At the In Focus event, 9 Taiwanese and 2 Vietnamese short films will be screened. Representatives from Kaohsiung Film Institute and 4 young filmmakers from Taiwan will also meet and talk with audience members at their film screenings in HCM City on 13 November, and in Da Nang on 15 November.

At Art-House Corner, people will be able to see 8 arts house film projects by young filmmakers. The best project will grab the Autumn Meeting Grand Prix.

Around 10 entertainment film projects will compete for the Producer’s Choice award.

The festival was started jointly by independent filmmaker Phan Dang Di, producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and Nguyen My Dung in 2013. Since its second edition in 2014, the event has attracted young filmmakers from Singapore and Taiwan. Last year, Korean cameraman Kim Hyung-Koo, director of photography for the huge box-office the RoK hit The Host , joined the film shooting session.

The festival has become a stepping stone for those who aspire to make a career in cinema. Last year’s Autumn Meeting Grand Prix winner Nguyen Phuong Anh won the Non-Hong Kong Project Award at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum and the White Light Post-Production Award for her film The Third Wife .

The Autumn Meeting Grand Prix 2014 winner Do Quoc Trung and Producer’s Choice winner Tran Dung Thanh Huy were in short-list for the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Project Market.

(Source: VNA/ Da Nang Today)