Film producers thirsty for studios

Film producers thirsty for studios

The only studio for film producers in the north is Co Loa. It is called a studio, but actually, it is a devastated area, which was built under assistance of China and Germany three decades ago.

There is no real film studio, so movie directors have to run everywhere to seek real scenes to add to their films. Villages around Hanoi and Ha Tay provinces have become œstudios.

Director Dang Nhat Minh is the one who discovered œHollywood villages of Phu Cuong in Soc Son district, Hanoi, when he went to shoot his film named œThuong Nho Dong Que (Nostalgia for the Countryside). Since Dang Nhat Minh, many movie directors have gone to Phu Cuong to shoot films.

The Vietnam Film Centre (VFC) of the Vietnam Television (VTV) annually produces around 350 films but it doesnt have a studio. Thanks to this shortage of studios, many œHollywood villages have appeared, among them an old collective quarter on Thuy Khue street, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi. This quarter has been the studio for over 100 TV series.

The quarter is typical of collective quarters in the past with old tile-roofed houses, a collective water tank and toilet, etc. so it is suitable for films about the subsidy period or war time.

Director Do Thanh Hai, VFC Deputy Director, said most scenes in VFC films are private houses or offices.

In 2001, a movie development plan was submitted to the government, in which compilers proposed the construction of a national studio at a cost of VND75 billion ($4.68 million). However, the project was not implemented for a long time because of controversies over the most appropriate site for the national studio.

Film Director Lai Van Sinh, Head of the Movies Agency, said Dong Mo in Ha Tay province was the most appropriate place to build a national studio. Meanwhile, Tran Kim Luan, Chairman of the Vietnam Movies Association, said many members of the association expected that the studio would be built in Nha Trang city in the central province of Khanh Hoa. However, Co Loa was finally the number-one option because it is not far from Hanoi and there is an old studio there.

Recently, a real studio totalling 700sq.m was opened in the northern province of Hung Yen, serving the first TV series named œJolly Singles.