The film ‘Em Chưa 18’ (Jailbait), directed by Le Thanh Son, won the Golden Lotus prize for best feature film at the 20^th Vietnamese Film Festival on Tuesday in Da Nang.

Actress Katie Nguyen (centre) and Director Le Thanh Son (2nd left) receive the Golden Lotus Prize for the best feature film in the 20th Vietnamese Film Festival in Da Nang on Tuesday. — VNS Photo Lam Tran

Two films, ‘The House Maid’ and ‘Father and Son’, took 2 Silver Lotus awards at the ceremony, held at the city’s Trung Vuong Theatre.

Katie Nguyen, who acted in the Vietnamese movie ‘Jailbait’, was named best actress, while Quy Binh from the film ‘I’ll Wait’, took the best actor award.

In the documentary category, the film ‘Live and Tell’, directed by Nguyen Hoang Lam, won the Golden Lotus prize.

Two Silver Lotus awards went to films ‘Home Coming’ and ‘Viet Nam Under Subsidy’.

‘A Solution for Coastal Erosion’, by director Phung Ngoc Tu, won the Golden prize for the best scientific film division, while the film ‘Growing Sperm for Infertility in Males’ took Silver prize.

‘The Mannequin’ was awarded the Golden Lotus prize for best animated film, while ‘Fugitive’ took the Silver Lotus.

Actress Ha My was named best supporting actress for her work on ‘The Girl from Yesterday’, while Nhan Phuc Vinh took best supporting actor for the film ‘The Way Station’.

The organising committee also presented prizes for the best sound and music, the best artist, the best cameraman, the best film script in categories of documentary, science, feature and animation, the jury’s award and the best film voted by audiences.

A scene in the 'Em Chua 18' (Jailbait) by diretor Le Thanh Son won the Golden Lotus prize on Tuesday in Da Nang.

More than 4,000 viewers in the central region enjoyed a week-long film festival screening Viet Nam’s 129 best new and old films spanning genres of feature, documentary, scientific and animated categories.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau will host the 21^st Vietnamese Film Festival next year.

ASEAN Awards

The film, ‘A Yellow Bird’, from Singapore won the Best Film Award at the first ASEAN Film Awards in Da Nang, while main actor Sivakumar Palakrishnan was named Best Actor at the ceremony yesterday.

The film, directed by K. Rajagopal, features Silva (actor Sivakumar), a Singaporean Indian man released after years in prison for smuggling.  Unable to find forgiveness from his mother, he searches for his ex-wife and daughter.

“I would like to thanks Viet Nam for creating the opportunity in the ASEAN Film Awards,” Sivakumar Palakrishnan said at the awards ceremony.

Mary Joy Apostol from the Philippines, who starred in the film ‘Birdshot’, bagged the Best Actress prize.
Wicaksono Wisnu Legowo of Indonesia was named Best Director for the film ‘Turah’.   

The 3 members of the ASEAN Awards jury were Jonathan Hyong-joon Kim, a director from South Korea; Roger Garcia, director of the International Film Festival Hong Kong; and Polish director Karolina Bielawska.

The first ASEAN Film Awards, an initiative of Viet Nam, drew the participation of the films ‘Adrift’ (Malaysia), ‘Birdshot’ (the Philippines), ‘Angel of Eden’ (Myanmar), ‘Descendant’ (Brunei) and ‘Yellow Bird’ (Singapore), ‘Benevolence of the Contemporary Mother’ (Cambodia), ‘Swan Lifts Turtle’ (Laos), ‘Turah’ (Indonesia), ‘By the Time It Gets Dark’ (Thailand) and Da Co Hoai Lang (Night Drumbeats Cause Longing for Absent Husband).

The event also marks the 50^th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, strengthening friendship and solidarity among different nationalities.

(Source: VNS)