This year's theme range is quite diverse. From leader themes such as "The Moon of Childhood" (Liberation Film Joint Stock Company), historical and war themes such as "Hong Ha Nu Si" (HongNgat Film), "Dao, Pho and Piano" (Film Feature Joint Stock Company 1), to social psychology themes - "Claws", "Fanti" (Hoan Khue Joint Stock Company), "Mai" (Tran Thanh Town Joint Stock Company and CJ HK Company), "Old Lady Going Dusty" (Film Feature Joint Stock Company 1), or horror - "Ghost Dog" (98S Group Company)...
This is also a competition between generations of directors from veteran directors like Ho Ngoc Xum, Phi Tien Son, middle-aged directors with a long history of achievements like Bui Tuan Dung, Nguyen Duc Viet to young faces like Pham Ngoc Lan, Khuong Ngoc... and even box office "kings" like Tran Thanh. Unfortunately, another million-dollar director, Ly Hai, did not participate in "Lat mat 7: Mot giau uoc".
Of course, among the outstanding candidates, we cannot fail to mention "Mai" by Tran Thanh, "Dao, Pho and Piano" by Phi Tien Son.
As soon as he entered the Vietnamese film market, Tran Thanh had a resounding success right from his first film with “Bo Gia” and then “Nha Ba Nu” and especially “Mai” which created a record milestone in Vietnamese film revenue with over 22 million USD (nearly 540 billion VND). “Scratching the itch” of the common audience, “Mai” with a story full of love - hate - joy - anger and the charming acting of Phuong Anh Dao and Tuan Tran affirmed Tran Thanh’s talent as one of the kings of commercial films.
In the context of Vietnam developing its film industry, Mai promises to be a leading candidate. The powerful opponent that can "overthrow" "Mai" is "Dao, Pho and Piano" by Phi Tien Son - a tragic historical film that once created a fever among audiences in the theater system and on social networks. This is also the only state-ordered film that has achieved high revenue in recent years, creating an important motivation and push for Vietnamese filmmakers who are passionate about historical, war and revolutionary themes.
A new color - “The Old Lady Goes Out” by Tran Chi Thanh is a love story rich in emotions, spanning from the past to the present, a fulcrum for people to live happily in the last years of their lives. “The Old Lady Goes Out” also shows an innovation in the way of exploiting and expressing the social psychology theme of Feature Film Studio I.
Another candidate, “Cu li khong bao khong cry” by young director Pham Ngoc Lan, has the “capital” of awards at the Berlin Film Festival and the Da Nang Film Festival (DANAFF).
Contributing to the diversity of this year's Kite Awards are "Fanti" by director Andy Nguyen and "Live - live broadcast" by director Khuong Ngoc, which are vivid colors about the lives of young people with their unconventional ways of thinking and actions, expressing their own ego. However, the way these two films are presented is not really convincing to viewers.
Director Lau Cheng-lun’s “Ghost Dog” is arguably one of the best horror films of recent years (along with “Soul Eater”). With its message about the law of karma through an engaging, dramatic story, the film has achieved high revenue at the box office and is fully capable of aiming for an award this year.
Exploiting the theme of traditional art, the film “Lights Up” by director Hoang Tuan Cuong is set in 1994, when many Western opera troupes began to disband. Through the efforts of a traditional opera troupe to survive in the market mechanism, the film depicts the artistic love and the past and present of the troupe members. Many famous opera excerpts such as “Tieng Trong Me Linh”, “Quan Vuong va Thiep”, “Duc Vuong Ngo Quyen”… have brought viewers back to the golden age of traditional opera art.
The movie “Fragile Flower” shows the dedication and perseverance in pursuing the artistic path of actress - businesswoman - director Mai Thu Huyen, even though it has not achieved the expected box office revenue.
Compared to last year, this year's Kite Award will be a more fierce competition, with more diverse colors and certainly, the Jury will have a headache to find not only the film that wins the Gold Award but also the next positions. Professionalism and balance in an overall view of the development of the Vietnamese Film market will be important factors in choosing the order of awards.
