“First, get a good team” is the advice of Phan Dang Di, the director of award-wining “Bi, Don’t be afraid” to students about independent film making.
Phan Dang Di (C), Nguyen Hoang Diep (L) and Pham Quang Minh at the interactive session held at Hoa Sen University on September 23. Photo: Ngoc Dong
“A perfect team is the basic element of making a successful independent film”, Di told Ho Chi Minh City students at a meeting held on Friday at Hoa Sen University.
Di, and two other members of his “perfect team” that made “Bi, Don’t Be Afraid,” scriptwriter and director Nguyen Hoang Diep and cameraman Pham Quang Minh, told local youths that it was not impossible to make an independent film.
According to the rising filmmakers whose “Bi, Don’t Be Afraid” has won two of the International Critics Week’s prizes at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in 2010, and Best First Feature and Best Cinematography at the 21st Stockholm International Film Festival this year, besides teamwork, passion is also important.
Di said foreign investors in particular would prefer filmmakers who really believe in the success of their projects.
At the meeting, the trio also talked about their upcoming project, a movie titled “Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung (Wings in the Air)” about a 17-year-old girl whose boyfriend leaves her when she is pregnant with his child.
In 2010, Phan Dang Di was nominated for Best Writer at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong for the movie “Choi Voi” directed by Bui Thac Chuyen.
Nguyen Hoang Diep started her filmmaking career in 2004 with the movie “Mua Thu 5” which won the third prize at the 2005 National Short Film Festival. She’s recently directed the TV series “Chit and Pi” and “The 10A8 Class’ Quartet”.
Pham Quang Minh won Best Cameraman at the National TV Awards in 2006.