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Interview with Shialey Tan Why do you choose Vietnam and ask film producers to make documentaries about it? Shialey Tan: I have toured Vietnam and feel that Vietnam is dynamic and new. I am sure there are interesting stories to tell people within Asia and outside Asia. What do you expect from Vietnamese filmmakers in this project? We have money, means of making films and technical engineering to support Vietnamese film producers. We expect good stories from Vietnam – a country that is beautiful, hospitable, and has many wonderful things that television viewers from Europe and the rest of the world don’t know about. If I have a good story, but I don’t know how to make a film about it, how can I cooperate with you or take part in this project? You need to draft a plan in which you tell the story and suggest somebody who will serve as the director. You should set up a team to carry out the plan. But first, you should send your story to us. How can film producers contact you? You can call me at +65 63 50 32 12, fax to me at +65 62 59 20 62 and my email is shialeytan@mediacorp.com.sg. You can visit the website: www.caldecottproductions.com for more information and get the form to register for the competition. The deadline is April 30, 2008.
Everyday narratives are the theme of a new documentary competition that aims to showcase local stories to the world.
Shialey Tan is speaking at a press conference held at HCMC’s Palace Hotel Sunday
Three leading Asian television corporations – Japan’s NHK, South Korea’s KBS, and Singapore’s MediaCorp jointly held a press conference at Ho Chi Minh City’s Palace Hotel Sunday to introduce their collaborative program called “The Asian Pitch” which aims to support prospective documentary filmmakers to showcase their works to a wider international audience.
For the program’s two-year anniversary, the partners decided to focus their lens on Vietnam because, as MediaCorp Caldecott Broadcast Center sales manager Shialey Tan puts it, “Vietnam is attracting much attention from its Asian neighbors and internationally.”
“Stories about Vietnam are interesting and we think people both within Asia and all around the world want to learn more about the country by watching documentaries directly created by locals,” Tan added.
According to Tan, television viewers outside of Asia are really curious about social narratives from this region, which gave birth to the idea of “The Asian Pitch” project.
This year, the project intends to solicit exclusive detailed vignettes about everyday life of Vietnamese people and encourage local professional and amateur documentary filmmakers to enter their works into a competition hosted by the organizers.
“The Asian Pitch” would subsequently submit the winning documentaries to the annual Cannes Film Festival in France and television corporations from Japan, South Korea and Singapore may rebroadcast these unique “homemade” documentaries to their audiences.
While finance has consistently been a major obstacle for Vietnamese documentary makers, the project will sponsor grants to support film production for promising ideas.
When asked what types of ideas would have a good chance of being accepted, Tan said, “Stories featuring the unique characteristics of life in your country that can’t be found anywhere else in the world would be selected.”
Documentary drivers
During the coffee break at the press conference, local film directors, producers and scriptwriters joined in the discussion about this tremendous opportunity.
“I want the real daily lives of Vietnamese people to be filmed so that global television viewers can witness a new Vietnam that has achieved great progress while still retaining its traditional culture,” said Vietnam Cinema Association Vice President Duong Cam Thuy.
Film director Nguyen Thanh Van, who was famous for making films about ordinary Vietnamese women like Doi Cat (Sand Life), said, “I have conceived of an idea to make a documentary about the life of a community of immigrants inside a modern city; it will examine the spiritual values of a village culture, and the changes in spirituality resulting from modern times.”
Van’s wife, director Pham Nhue Giang, has also produced a famous film called Thung Lung Hoang Vang (Deserted Valley).
She chimed in with her idea of producing a documentary about poor people in contemporary life.
The documentary film competition will be judged by 16 experts from NHK, KBS and MediaCorp television corporations.
Even if an entry fails to win, Tan still urges prospective entrants to submit their ideas.
She emphasized, “Please send your stories to us. If they are not suitable for the Asian Pitch project scale, we will invite you to cooperate in other projects. We are very interested in the life of Vietnamese people.”
As the country is undergoing rapid changes, many Vietnamese are concerned about increasing social problems and the evolution of cultural mores and traditional standards amidst modernity’s lures.
The time is now for these stories to be revealed to the world as the lens zooms in.
