Son Doong Cave to be featured in Bollywood movie

Vietnamese-American director Peter Heine said he is about to make a Bollywood action film set in Son Doong Cave.

The seminar “Promoting tourism through cinema” between Vietnamese and Indian filmmakers took place at the headquarters of the Vietnam Cinema Department on the morning of December 19 within the framework of the 2015 Indian Film Festival. Here, some prospects for film production cooperation between the two countries were opened up.

At the seminar, Ms. Ngo Phuong Lan, Director of the Vietnam Cinema Department, introduced the potential for cooperation in Vietnamese cinema. Vietnam has up to 384 film studios with which Indian filmmakers can cooperate. Because, according to current Vietnamese law, foreign filmmakers are not allowed to make independent films in Vietnam, but are required to cooperate with a domestic film studio. She also encouraged Indian directors that if they do not know which film studio to choose, the Vietnam Cinema Department can help and advise.

The film “Three Idiots” was a favorite at the 2015 Indian Film Festival.

Director and film producer Nguyen Hoang Diep, who has experience working with a number of foreign film studios, said that the facilities and experience of Vietnamese film producers are not inferior to those of foreign countries, except for post-production. She gave advice to Indian directors: You should have a standard English script and find a standard translator, which will greatly help the censorship process. Some films are not approved mainly due to language barriers.

Sharing about the issue of film censorship, Indian directors said that, like Vietnam, Indian films also have to go through censorship by the Indian Film Bureau, but it is quite easy and convenient. It is more like applying for a film registration than censorship. Mr. Rizwan Ahamd, Director of the International Film Festival of India, under the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said that for films participating in the festival, there is no censorship but only high-quality films are emphasized. As for normal films, censorship is very quick, at the latest within a month. He also invited Vietnamese filmmakers to participate in the Indian film festival.

Vietnamese-American director Peter Heine said he is about to make an action film set in Son Doong Cave.

In response to the Indian director’s concerns about producing a musical film in Vietnam, Ms. Ngo Phuong Lan said that if it is a musical film, the censorship process is not too complicated. In addition, Ms. Lan also added that about 20 years ago, Vietnam also granted permission for the French film “The Lover” to be filmed in Vietnam, even though the film had many sex scenes. Ms. Lan said that this shows that Vietnam’s censorship is quite open.

Besides the issue of censorship, the issue that many Indian directors are concerned about is whether Vietnam has a website that introduces full clips of Vietnam's scenic spots so that they can research before deciding on a setting. In response to this concern, Mr. Ha Van Sieu, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Tourism, said that the General Department of Tourism has a warehouse of documentary films about Vietnam's beautiful scenic spots. He is very willing to provide them to Indian directors if they have a need.

While Indian directors are still new to Vietnam, Peter Heine, an Indian director of Vietnamese origin, said he has plans to make a film in Vietnam. A few years ago, he always had the intention of making a film in his homeland Vietnam but was still struggling to figure out how to do it. This film festival is an opportunity for him to go in the right direction. It will be an action film and he plans to have scenes filmed in Son Doong Cave. He said he has submitted an application for a filming permit here and hopes that the filming permit will be granted faster than registering to travel to explore Son Doong Cave.

It is known that inviting more than 10 Bollywood directors to Vietnam this time was a great effort by Indian Ambassador Preeti Saran. At the Vietnam - India tourism promotion conference last year that I attended, the ambassador praised Vietnam's beautiful landscapes, delicious Vietnamese food, especially fruits, but very few Indians know about Vietnam. She said that she would invite Bollywood filmmakers to Vietnam to make films promoting Vietnam's beautiful landscapes.

Meanwhile, the conference with the theme “Promoting tourism through cinema” was jointly organized by the Embassy of India in Vietnam and the Vietnam Cinema Department, and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism acted as a guest. That’s why there are so many clips of beautiful Vietnamese landscapes, but they are kept in… storage (?!). To promote Vietnamese tourism, the Organizing Committee only invited directors to visit a few famous places./.

According to VOV.vn