HÀ NỘI - Vietnamese film "Việt and Nam" directed by Trương Minh Quý is listed for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, however, Director of the Cinema Department Vi Kiến Thành said that the Cinema Department has not yet licensed the film to compete at the festival.

The movie 'Việt and Nam' is on the competition list for the Un Certain Regard category at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Photo courtesy of EPICMEDIA PRODUCTIONS

The head of the Cinema Department stated that the appraisal and classification board was unable to view the movie due to defects in the version of the film that the producer submitted to the department. The Department has requested that the producer submit an updated version of the film.

According to Article 40 of the Cinema Law 2022, for films to be screened at film festivals, competitions, awards, programmes and film weeks both domestically and internationally, they must have been granted a license for film classification or have been granted a decision for film classification.

The film "Việt and Nam" directed by Quý was shot with 16mm film, built on the shocking event in 2019, when 39 Vietnamese people were found in a container behind a truck in Essex, England.

The film is about two miners named Nam and Việt who work 300 meters below the surface, where there is constant danger and darkness. Nam hired traders to carry him to the West since he did not want to continue living on stone.

Việt and Nam is an attempt to make sense of the tragic deaths of unfortunate people. It is also the next step in an exploration of history and its implications for the present and future.

The official Cannes Film Festival selection list includes a category called Un Certain Regard. This category features 20 unusual films annually, intending to tell "unconventional" stories that aspire to international recognition. VNS