A scene in Trạng Tí (Child Master), a film about Vietnamese folk stories by movie star and producer Ngô Thanh Vân. The film is expected to be in cinemas this summer. — Photo courtesy of the producer

By Thu Anh

HCM CITY — Two film projects about Vietnamese history by female film producers will begin shooting scenes this month. 

Trưng Vương (She Kings) is a production by movie star and producer Trương Ngọc Ánh.

The film features national heroines Hai Bà Trưng (two Trưng women) -- Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị -- the two sisters who led the first resistance movement against the Chinese occupation in the first century, around 2000 years ago.

Producer Ánh, owner of TNA Entertainments, a film and entertainment agency, has worked with Vietnamese-Australian film producer Janet Ngo on the production.

Ánh and her staff also consulted cultural researchers and historians in Hà Nội and HCM City before filming.

“Our film’s biggest scenes feature the Trưng sisters in 40 AD, when they led their troops on elephants to repel Chinese invasions. Their victory brought liberation for Đại Việt (an old name for Việt Nam) after 247 years of Chinese domination,” said producer Ánh.

“Trưng Vương includes historic events and famous heroines such as Bát Nàn, Ả Chạ, Hồ Đề who were under the heroic sisters. We believe that our film, Trưng Vương, will be successful at the box office,” she added.

Another film, Trạng Tí (Child Master), is about Vietnamese folk stories by movie star and producer Ngô Thanh Vân, who has had 15 years of experience in the industry. 

The film is part of Vân’s new project based on a comedic series by young artists from Phan Thị Company. The series, titled Thần Đồng Đất Việt (Vietnamese Prodigies), features historic events and famous characters from different periods in Việt Nam’s history.

Lê Quý Đôn, a poet, encyclopaedist and government official who lived in the 18th century, and Lương Thế Vinh, a mathematician and poet under the Lê Dynasty, are highlighted.

The first of the 200-part series, released in 2002, was a publishing phenomenon. More than one million copies of the series have been printed.  

The film, Trạng Tí, features four child characters called Tí (Mouse), Sửu (Buffalo), Dần (Tiger) and Mẹo (Cat) who live in a remote village and use their intelligence to protect their villagers. 

According to producer Vân, the first scenes of Trạng Tí were completed in December in Ninh Bình Province.

“I have worked with the film’s director Phan Gia Nhật Linh to capture the Vietnamese spirit through the film’s characters,” said 43-year-old Vân, adding that the film is her dream to bring Vietnamese history and culture to the cinema.

Vân, owner of Studio68, a film and entertainment agency, invited musician Đức Trí, a graduate in music from Berklee College of Music in the US, to compose the soundtrack which uses folk music from the northern, central and southern regions.

“I hope audiences, particularly children and teenagers, will be proud of their country and people after watching,” said Vân.

Vân is expected the film shoot will be completed in March.

Both Trưng Vương and Trạng Tí will be in cinemas this summer.

Veteran director Nguyễn Quang Dũng of HCM City is working on a Vietnamese version of the Hollywood blockbuster, Perfect Strangers. The director has not disclosed much information about the film but promises it will be in cinemas in July.

Dũng’s latest film, Ước Hẹn Mùa Thu (Love in Fall), is about love and youth, and earned more than VNĐ85 billion (US$3.6 million) in ticket sales in May.    

Meanwhile, director Phan Gia Nhật Linh of Hà Nội began his third film project, Tiệc Trăng Máu (Moon Blood), a horror film, last month. — VNS