“Red Rain” is promised to be a heavily invested work. The Army Cinema built a film studio of more than 40 hectares in Quang Tri to recreate the fierce battle in the ancient citadel in 1972. The film is expected to be released to audiences in September 2025 on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Ten years ago, in 2015, Army Cinema produced the war film “The Returner” which was also released on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day, September 2, and then released for free at a number of commercial theaters.
The issue of releasing films in state-funded projects, also known as “commemorative films,” has been debated for decades. This issue continues to be controversial as it has not found a way out, and has not been able to reach a conclusion after decades of debate.
Recently, Director of the Cinema Department Vi Kien Thanh once again proposed the need for legal regulations to facilitate the release and dissemination of state-owned films, so that films can reach a wide audience.
Talking to a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper about this topic, director Bui Tuan Dung used the words "outdated" and "backward" to talk about the fact that films ordered by the State are not released in commercial theaters, are only shown on holidays and then stored.
“Peach, Pho and Piano” after being released at the National Cinema Center, was recently re-screened on television to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Liberation of the Capital. A movie being shown for free on television - which is an irony.
Filmmakers call this waste. This waste has lasted for decades and has led to many consequences.
The biggest consequence of subsidized cinema, of ordered films that were only shown for a few days and then stored in warehouses, caused the Vietnam Feature Film Studio to suffer for a long time and almost collapse until now.
Since before it was “dying to death” due to equitization, Vietnam Feature Film Studio had been “precariously” surviving due to land tax debts, losses and no money to pay its workers. When it was equitized and fell into the hands of VIVASO, Vietnam Feature Film Studio was valued at zero dong, because it had not made a profit for many years.
Making films on commission without being responsible for revenue has left a generation of filmmakers at many state-owned film studios "helpless" in the face of the times, when the film market has changed dramatically.
Since the state-owned film studios "struggled" with losses and equitization, the operation of the film market has fluctuated unpredictably.
Audience tastes change over time.
Since the advent of trashy comedies that created a fever in ticket sales, to the entry of overseas Vietnamese directors like Charlie Nguyen, Victor Vu... or most recently the explosion of online movie platforms, audiences have had a big change in their taste in watching movies.
According to director Nguyen Quang Dung, “audiences are becoming more unpredictable than ever. They are becoming more and more demanding. A movie project that is released in theaters to achieve revenue of hundreds of billions requires many factors.”
As the market and tastes are changing rapidly, the need for a legal mechanism for the release and dissemination of films ordered by the State becomes more urgent, because the longer the time is, the more obvious the risk of filmmakers "falling behind" the market and tastes.
To date, “I See Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass” is still the only project that is a collaboration between the private sector and the State, released by the private sector, and has earned “huge revenue” when released in theaters. The film was announced to have a budget of 20 billion VND and earned 78 billion VND, setting a record in ticket sales when it premiered.
“Tunnels: Sun in the Dark” by director Bui Thac Chuyen is a war and historical film project invested in and produced by the private sector, to be released on April 30, 2025, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South. The work will show the big difference between war films commissioned by the State and those produced by the private sector.
