Nhi Duong
27 thg 9, 2021
Heartbroken because of the ban on the film Vi "like a death sentence, like being imprisoned", the film producer announced a decision to give up the ownership rights, resulting in the film no longer being a Vietnamese film.
A new identity for ‘Taste’: Singaporean
Le Bao, as a filmmaker, agrees to transfer the film's copyright. Phuong Thao, as a producer, agrees to surrender ownership of the film. As a result, Phuong Thao stated that the film's ownership belongs to Lai Weijie, the other Singaporean producer of the film. From now on, Singapore is going to be deemed the film's principal "nationality."
"So far, ‘Taste’ has always been a multi-national film," Phuong Thao told Tuoi Tre Online. “I don't want to use the word "change of nationality" right now, and I won't use it in my address to the filmmakers either. We're not runaways, we're desperate for a chance and for the film to live. So we did whatever we could to save the movie." she continued.
On IMDb, the film's country section includes Vietnam, Singapore, France, Thailand, Germany... These are the countries where the producer has raised funds to make the film.
"We come from Vietnam," proudly represents
Phuong Thao and Le Bao are always pleased to be recognized as Vietnamese filmmakers. Standing in front of the presentation platform in Turin (Italy), in front of more than 200 visitors, including film fund curators and art directors from major film festivals, both boldly stated: "We come from Vietnam."
In addition to banning the film Vi, the producer appreciates the management agency's positive reviews about the film. "We very much appreciate the evaluations and views of the Cinema Department's Vi Kien Thanh and director Nguyen Hoang Diep—a member of the Central Council for the evaluation of feature films—about the film Vi. That is very valuable, helping us to relax and be comforted from the negative comments and deductions from some articles," Phuong Thao said.
The film ‘Taste’ earned the Special Jury Prize in the Encounters category at the Berlin Film Festival (Germany) in March 2021, before it was banned from being released in Vietnam. The production firm was fined 35 million dongs for participating in a film festival without a license.
"The ban is like a death sentence”
On September 26, during the lecture "Who has suggestions, raise your hand", producer Dong Thi Phuong Thao said that the film Vi was forbidden from being distributed in Vietnam owing to "a 30-minute face-to-face naked scene."
According to Phuong Thao: "We haven't gotten over the censorship issue yet. It is still sad for the director and all of the fellow workers engaged in the creative process. There are no harsh or vulgar moments in our video. No one will devote 7 years of their life to pursue a disgusting film. No fund will put money into a picture that has no aesthetic merit."
According to Phuong Thao, Le Bao's cinematic style, especially the film “Taste”, is "distinctive and unusual but neither strange nor vulgar."
"The present prohibition on the picture Taste is like a death sentence for it”, according to the producer. "The worst part is that the film received the ban but was not assessed from an aesthetic standpoint," she added. “We simply want the movie to be viewed. At film festivals, films are assessed and age-categorized before being distributed to the appropriate audience groups ", she shared
The director-producer team hopes that the revised Cinema Law would include favorable provisions for serious filmmakers like them who are looking for filmmaking possibilities overseas. The Cinema Department met with film producer Vi on September 27th to discuss issues about the picture.
Tuoi Tre Online received a response from director Vi Kien Thanh: "We just knew the film's "Vietnamese nationality" information via the press and requested a formal explanation. We cannot yet reveal the details of this afternoon's meeting."