"Getting State funds for films is very difficult," director Vinh Son said. "Only a few films are selected each year for the subsidy of about VND2 billion (US$123,000) per film.

"The money is not enough and we must tie up with foreign companies or get assistance from foreign organisations," he added.

A dozen organisations globally offer assistance for making films, according to local filmmakers.

Last year’s Trang Noi Day Gieng (A Moon Mirroring Well) by Son got $206,000 from Fonds Sud Cinema and $111,000 from Fonds Francophone, both of France.

The two funds have, in the last few years, financed many Vietnamese films including Me Thao Thoi Vang Bong (Me Thao in the Golden Days) and Thoi Xa Vang (A Distant Past).

A Distant Past won the Emile Guimet Award from the French National Museum of Asian Arts at the 2004 International Asian Film Festival in Vesoul, France. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Le Luu, the film offers an intimate portrait of the lives of young men in a rural Vietnamese village during the 1970s.

"However, it’s not easy for Vietnamese films to get foreign financial assistance," award-winning director Bui Thac Chuyen pointed out.

Trai Tim Be Bong (A Small Heart) by the Viet Nam Feature Films Company beat off 34 films from 21 countries to obtain funds from the US’s Global Film Initiative.

Chuyen is renowned for his interesting scripts and fundraising skills. He managed to get French assistance for several films like Xam (Beggar Music) and Cuoc Xe Dem (A Night Ride).

"I seek funds from foreign organisations for my films as soon as I complete a script," he said.

"I’m looking for aid for Choi Voi (Lonely) which I’ll make soon," he said, adding he needed $300,000 to augment the funds he had from other sources.

His Song Trong So Hai (Living in Fear) won an award for best new talent at the ninth Shanghai International Film Festival in 2006. In the same year, the film won the annual Golden Kite award for best film from the Viet Nam Cinematography Association.

The film is about a former Sai Gon regime soldier who earns a living by clearing unexplored mines to support his family of two wives and five children.

Chuyen said filmmakers had to traverse a long path before being able to obtain assistance from foreign organisations which expected beneficiaries to have been acknowledged by international critics and feted at prestigious film festivals.

However, he said that many Vietnamese films had managed to win the hearts of audiences in Viet Nam and abroad with their innovative themes and content. "This will make it easier for film-makers to get foreign aid," he said.

He and others in the film industry said that a $350,000 programme funded by the US’s Ford Foundation for Vietnamese film-makers over the next two years was truly good news for the industry. — VNS