Jailbait wins Vietnamese film festival, A Yellow Bird takes ASEAN prize

Actress Kathy Uyen (centre) and director Le Thanh Son (second right) receive the Golden Lotus Prize for the best feature film in the 20th Vietnamese Film Festival in Da Nang yesterday. - VNS Photo Lam Tran

Two films, The House Maid and Father and Son, took two Silver Lotus awards at the ceremony, held at the city’s Trung Vuong Theatre.

Kathy Uyen, who acted in the Vietnamese movie Jailbait, was named best actress, while Quy Binh from the film I’ll Wait, took the best actor award.

In the documentary category, the film Live and Tell, directed by Nguyen Hoang Lm, won the Golden Lotus prize.

Two Silver Lotus awards went to films Home Coming and Viet Nam Under Subsidy.

A Solution for Coastal Erosion, by director Phung Ngoc Tu, won the Golden prize for the best scientific film division, while the film Growing Sperm for Infertility in Males took Silver prize.

The Mannequin was awarded the Golden Lotus prize for best animated film, while Fugitive took the Silver Lotus.

Actress Ha My was named best supporting actress for her work on The Girl from Yesterday, while Nhan Phuc Vinh took best supporting actor for the film The Way Station.

The organising committee also presented prizes for the best sound and music, the best artist, the best cameraman, the best film script in categories of documentary, science, feature and animation, the jury’s award and the best film voted by audiences.

More than 4,000 viewers in the central region enjoyed a week-long film festival screening Vietnam’s 129 best new and old films spanning genres of feature, documentary, scientific and animated categories.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau will host the 21st Vietnamese Film Festival next year.

ASEAN Awards

The film, A Yellow Bird, from Singapore won the Best Film Award at the first ASEAN Film Awards in Da Nang, while main actor Sivakumar Palakrishnan was named Best Actor at the ceremony yesterday.

The film, directed by K. Rajagopal, features Silva (actor Sivakumar), a Singaporean Indian man released after years in prison for smuggling. Unable to find forgiveness from his mother, he searches for his ex-wife and daughter.

“I would like to thanks Vietnam for creating the opportunity in the ASEAN Film Awards,” Sivakumar Palakrishnan said at the awards ceremony.

Mary Joy Apostol from the Philippines, who starred in the film Birdshot, bagged the Best Actress prize.

Wicaksono Wisnu Legowo of Indonesia was named Best Director for the film Turah.

The three members of the ASEAN Awards jury were Jonathan Hyong-joon Kim, a director from South Korea; Roger Garcia, director of the International Film Festival Hong Kong; and Polish director Karolina Bielawska.

The first ASEAN Film Awards, an initiative of Vietnam, drew the participation of the films Adrift (Malaysia), Birdshot (the Philippines), Angel of Eden (Myanmar), Descendant (Brunei) and Yellow Bird (Singapore), Benevolence of the Contemporary Mother (Cambodia), Swan Lifts Turtle (Laos), Turah (Indonesia), By the Time It Gets Dark (Thailand) and Da Co Hoai Lang (Hello Vietnam)

The event also marks the 50th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, strengthening friendship and solidarity among different nationalities.