All are new creations
At the award ceremony of the contest held on October 1, Mr. Vi Kien Thanh - Director of the Department of Cinema, Head of the Organizing Committee of the contest - said: The contest was launched on June 21, 2023 and ended accepting scripts on April 1, 2024, attracting the participation of professional and amateur screenwriters with over 70 scripts. Young authors are aged 25-35, the oldest author is over 80 years old, including Vietnamese authors living, studying and working abroad.
That shows the authors' deep affection for the glorious Party and great Uncle Ho. The contest's requirement is that the script must be a new creation, not having won awards in other contests... The scripts not only focus on the great historical milestones of the Party, but also pay attention to stories about ordinary people, typical characters of the revolutionary cause from 1930 to the present.
Many works have deeply portrayed the struggle of generations of Party members and Vietnamese people. The documentary scripts cover a wide range of areas of life, new issues of the country related to the Party's policies, guidelines and leadership; the close relationship between the entire Party, the entire people and the entire army. The feature film scripts focus on portraying the image of President Ho Chi Minh, closely linking his revolutionary life with the Vietnamese revolution.
Regarding the image of some revolutionaries, the Vietnamese revolutionary movement is the center to build the content of the script. Many historical events in the process of the Party's revolutionary leadership have been mentioned and recreated by the authors, reflecting the Party's leadership role in the Vietnamese revolution.
The group of topics on Party building and rectification, protecting the Party's ideological foundation, innovating the Party's leadership methods; fighting against corruption... also received attention from some authors in developing scripts.
Strong and weak
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen The Ky - Chairman of the Central Council for Literature and Arts Theory and Criticism, Head of the Final Selection Committee for feature film scripts - stated: Choosing a slice, a certain historical period in the 100-year history of the Party, with historical events and historical figures is very difficult.
There were many events such as the merger of three organizations leading to the founding of the Party or the time in 1946 when Uncle Ho said the country was in a precarious situation, then the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu... Or looking for evidence and explanations for Uncle Ho's saying "Our Party is moral and civilized"... The fact that there was no First Prize does not mean that the quality of the contest was not high, but because the Jury followed the Organizing Committee's request to judge strictly to select excellent works.
However, as Mr. The Ky said, it is regrettable that some authors do not understand historical periods well, lack scripts about the period of renovation, international integration... Regarding the land, there is a lack of scripts about the Central Highlands, very few about the Central region and only one about the South with poor quality. Some scripts do not have clear cinematic language, too much dialogue, too long, with easy language.
On the sidelines of the awards ceremony, director, People's Artist Trinh Le Van, a finalist for feature film scripts, said: The competition still has few good scripts, which really create open space - creative land for directors to exploit, but many scripts are written so carefully and meticulously that they are probably more suitable for reading in books than making films.
Competition results. Regarding feature film scripts: No first prize. Second prize: “Choosing a genius”, author Le Ngoc Minh (Hanoi). Three third prizes: “The first spring” by Nguyen Thi Khanh Ly (Hanoi), “Belief and love”- Dao Thuy Trang (Hanoi) and “Legendary footprints”- Doan Tuan (Hanoi). Two consolation prizes for “A strange fate” by Nguyen Anh Tuan (Hanoi) and “The red migration” by Dang Thu Ha (Hanoi). Regarding documentary film scripts: No first prize. Second prize: Young journalist looking for writer Son Tung in “Ho Chi Minh’s heart-light”, author Dao Tue Trinh (Hanoi). Two third prizes: “Van Cao - The Party with many talents, the Party with genius” by Giang Ha Vy and Nguyen Hoai Giang (Hanoi); “The old school by the Cong river” by Nguyen Thi My Trang (Hanoi).